Raising Awe-Seekers (How the Science of Wonder Helps Our Kids Thrive)

What if helping boost kids’ mental and emotional well-being, strengthen their social ties, and support their curiosity and internal motivation were as simple as rediscovering awe? Through research, interviews, and personal stories, Deborah Farmer Kris explores how awe and wonder can and should be a part of every childhood, and how becoming an awe-seeker can change your life and your parenting in profound and concrete ways.

Plenty of parenting resources speak directly to the concerns facing children and teens, including intense pressure to achieve, how to navigate social media and the online world, struggles with focus and motivation, spiking rates of anxiety and disordered eating, and worries about climate change, political strife, global crises, and local injustices. Rather than focusing on the challenges or telling you how to raise kids, this book, structured around seven of the most common sources of awe identified by Dacher Keltner and other awe researchers, aims to reconnect you with something fundamentally human: the capacity to wonder.

With the curiosity of a reporter and the heart of a parent, and with plenty of humor, and honesty, Farmer Kris breaks down the science of awe, connecting the research to what we know about how kids learn and grow and anchoring it with four of her personal parenting tenets that dovetail with awe-seeking:

• Slow down childhood
• Embrace playtime, downtime, and family time
• Practice radical curiosity
• Become an awe-seeker yourself

In these pages, you’ll hear from experts, and read stories and observations from the author’s experiences as a parent and educator of two decades. Words from other parents and from young people themselves round out the chapters and underline the importance of bending kids’ worlds toward wonder. You’ll also find concrete strategies and resources—from activities to booklists—to help you take what you’ve learned, apply it to your parenting, and share your wonder with your children.