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Praise for The Breakthrough Years
"A tour de force! Finally a science-based instruction manual for the adolescent brain that parents, educators, policy-makers, and teens themselves will benefit from reading and living by! The Breakthrough Years combines amazing insights on what teens want adults to know with an outstanding and easy to digest review of current findings in psychology and neuroscience. Don’t attempt to raise a teenager without reading this book first!"
“A true treasure trove of EVIDENCE-BASED WISDOM on adolescent development. I loved it.”
“A MASTERPIECE […] the Breakthrough Years offers us all a practical path to cultivating resilience and well-being for our next generation.”
“THIS BOOK SMASHES COMMON STEREOTYPES OF TWEENS AND TEENS. Ellen Galinsky marshals extensive evidence to reveal what adolescents today are really like—and how to help them grow and flourish.”
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Key Takeaways
Did you know…
Only 14% of parents use positive words to describe the adolescent brain vs 59% who use negative words
66% of parents say other adolescents are easily influenced, but only 29% say their own children are easily influenced
The science shows us adolescence is actually a time of enormous possibility.
Key Takeaways
5 Things every teen wants us to know
- Understand our development
- Listen and talk with us, not at us
- Don’t stereotype us
- We are trying to understand ourselves and our needs
- We are drawn to learn life and learning skills
Book Description:
Blending cutting-edge research with engaging storytelling, The Breakthrough Years offers readers a paradigm-shifting comprehensive understanding of adolescence.
Galinsky’s nine-year inquiry into the adolescent brain and behavior, including conducting original studies—uniquely informed by the questions adolescents have about their own development—shows why our understanding of adolescence is out of step with the latest research—and how to correct it. She:
- Identifies Five Basic Needs—such as belonging, developing competence, and building an identity—and shows how we can meet these needs in positive ways;
- Presents Five Life Skills based on executive functions of the brain that are developing rapidly during adolescence like setting goals and strategies, perspective taking, problem-solving, and taking on challenges, and shows how we can promote them;
- Introduces a new mindset, Possibilities Mindset, and Shared Solutions, a problem-solving process that parents and teachers can use to help create solutions to adolescent’s challenging problems.
Ellen Galinsky’s paradigm-shifting book will help parents and those who work with teens to understand adolescence not as the “I hope we can get though these years” but as the breakthrough years that they truly can be.
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Resources & Further Reading
About the Author
Ellen Galinsky, co-founder of Families and Work Institute (FWI) in 1989, serves as its President. Additionally, she is the elected President of the Work and Family Researchers Network and holds advisory roles with various organizations including AASA and the Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Prior to her current positions, she served as the Chief Science Officer of the Bezos Family Foundation and spent over two decades at the Bank Street College of Education. Galinsky's lifelong pursuit involves identifying societal questions, conducting research, and translating findings into actionable insights, focusing on work-life, children's development, and parental relationships. She is the author of numerous publications, including the best-selling book "Mind in the Making," and her forthcoming book on adolescence, "The Breakthrough Years," has received acclaim from notable figures in psychology and education.