Jocko Underground: When You Give, Should You Really Not Expect Anything In Return?

There are countless books telling parents how to give their children the best possible upbringing, but psychotherapist Amy Morin realized that there were few—if any—warning parents about what not to do. That’s why she wrote 13 Things Mentally Strong Parents Don’t Do, describing 13 common mistakes and how to avoid them. Morin also gives detailed explanations about why those mistakes can derail even the best parents and suggestions about what to do instead.

Our guide will compile Morin’s 13 “don’ts” into four categories: managing expectations and consequences, letting children experience hardship, maintaining the home’s hierarchy, and remembering what’s most important. Our commentary will draw connections to self-help books like Atomic Habits to help you effectively implement Morin’s ideas. We’ll also link to scientific articles that support some of Morin’s principles and explain why they work. Finally, we’ll suggest alternate approaches for especially difficult parenting challenges.

Can mental health treatments ever be harmful for children? In Bad Therapy, journalist Abigail Shrier argues yes, stating that we’re too quick to medicalize normal childhood struggles in today’s society. She says that while some children genuinely need professional treatment, using therapy and medication when it isn’t necessary prevents young people from developing the skills they need for adulthood. Shrier suggests that instead of rushing to therapy, parents should seek expert intervention less often and give their kids more independence and opportunities to develop resilience.

In this guide, we’ll lay out Shrier’s argument for why mental health treatments aren’t helping young people. We’ll then discuss how well-intentioned interventions by parents, schools, and mental health professionals can damage youth mental health. Lastly, we’ll compare Shrier’s recommendations for raising resilient children with those of psychologists and mental health experts.

In The Mental Toughness Handbook, Damon Zahariades provides a step-by-step guide to building mental fortitude and resilience so you can confront challenges and navigate adversity. Mental toughness is a state of mind that you learn and earn through hard work, persistence, and patience. You build it by controlling negative emotions, cultivating your self-confidence, and reframing failures and setbacks as opportunities.

Damon Zahariades is a productivity expert and owner of ArtOfProductivity.com, where he explores time management strategies, reviews productivity apps, and teaches people how to create habits to get more done and enjoy their free time. He has also authored other books on these topics, including The Time Management Solution and The Art of Letting Go.

This guide is broken into two parts. In Part 1, we’ll examine what mental toughness is and some of its key benefits. In Part 2 we’ll discuss how to cultivate mental toughness. We’ll also contextualize, compare, and contrast Zahariades’s work with that of mindfulness, mental health, and other experts.

Can mental health treatments ever be harmful for children? In Bad Therapy, journalist Abigail Shrier argues yes, stating that we’re too quick to medicalize normal childhood struggles in today’s society. She says that while some children genuinely need professional treatment, using therapy and medication when it isn’t necessary prevents young people from developing the skills they need for adulthood. Shrier suggests that instead of rushing to therapy, parents should seek expert intervention less often and give their kids more independence and opportunities to develop resilience.

In this guide, we’ll lay out Shrier’s argument for why mental health treatments aren’t helping young people. We’ll then discuss how well-intentioned interventions by parents, schools, and mental health professionals can damage youth mental health. Lastly, we’ll compare Shrier’s recommendations for raising resilient children with those of psychologists and mental health experts.

There are countless books telling parents how to give their children the best possible upbringing, but psychotherapist Amy Morin realized that there were few—if any—warning parents about what not to do. That’s why she wrote 13 Things Mentally Strong Parents Don’t Do, describing 13 common mistakes and how to avoid them. Morin also gives detailed explanations about why those mistakes can derail even the best parents and suggestions about what to do instead.

Our guide will compile Morin’s 13 “don’ts” into four categories: managing expectations and consequences, letting children experience hardship, maintaining the home’s hierarchy, and remembering what’s most important. Our commentary will draw connections to self-help books like Atomic Habits to help you effectively implement Morin’s ideas. We’ll also link to scientific articles that support some of Morin’s principles and explain why they work. Finally, we’ll suggest alternate approaches for especially difficult parenting challenges.

No, you’re not a bad parent. And your kids are actually good kids—parenting is just hard. Do you wish it came with a manual? Clinical psychologist Becky Kennedy’s Good Inside might be just what you need.

Good Inside is a parenting manual to help you make changes in your child’s behavior while building a positive relationship with them. Most parenting advice sees children’s behavior as a problem to be fixed through time-outs, rewards, and serious conversations. But Becky Kennedy argues that these strategies jeopardize your connection with your children. That’s a high price to pay for band-aid strategies that don't deal with the root causes of problematic behaviors.

Our guide lays out the core principles of Kennedy’s approach to parenting, her essential toolkit for dealing with challenging behavior, and strategies to deal with 10 common parenting challenges. We complement Kennedy’s advice with that of other experts, including the authors of parenting classics The Whole-Brain Child, 1-2-3 Magic, and How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk.