Raising Can-Do Kids

Praise

“Bringing together the latest research on child development with real-world examples, this unique and authoritative book couldn’t be more timely. It offers parents an engaging road map for raising kids who will be primed to both define and pursue their successes in the exciting and complex future that awaits them.”
–Michele Borba, Ed.D., parenting expert, educational psychologist, and author of The Big Book of Book of Parenting Solutions and Building Moral Intelligence

“This book offers a powerful framework….Parents will want to put the research-based suggestions to use immediately to help foster ‘can-do kids’ who are able to handle the inevitable challenges they’ll face in the 21st century.”
–Dr. Denise Pope, Senior Lecturer, Stanford Graduate School of Education, and Co-Founder, Challenge Success

“Richard Rende and Jen Prosek masterfully weave together developmental science, expert opinion, and practical examples to build a solid and engaging case that we must shift our parenting focus if we are to raise a generation of children prepared to lead us into the future. They artfully guide us how to foster our children’s creativity and innovative potential while nurturing their inherent love of learning and compassion. This book is written for parents, but is a gift to this generation of children.”
–Kenneth R Ginsburg, MD, MS Ed., Professor of Pediatrics, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, and author of Building Resilience in Children and Teens and Raising Kids to Thrive

“The premise of this book – that parents can help their kids develop the entrepreneurial mindset they need to be successful – resonated deeply with me. This is a must-read for parents.”  
–Kevin Ryan, Chairman and Founder, Gilt, MongoDB, Business Insider, and Zola 

“Our children will live in a world in which entrepreneurial individuals who can take risks and lead others amidst uncertainty will capture outsized returns. This is a guide to help you raise children who will excel in that world.”
–Kyle Jensen, Ph.D., Yale School of Management

“If it works for successful entrepreneurs, why shouldn’t it work for your children?

Entrepreneurs are willing to engage personal resources in launching a business, even at increased financial risk. Rende (Psychosocial Interventions for Genetically Influenced Problems in Childhood and Adolescence, 2014) and Prosek (Army of Entrepreneurs: Create an Engaged and Empowered Workforce for Exceptional Business Growth, 2011) were in the early stages of collaborating on a book on entrepreneurship, and the conversation turned to the challenges of parenting, which led to an idea: what if some of the key attributes of a successful entrepreneur could be applied to how a parent raises their children? Not in the sense of creating the next Warren Buffett, necessarily, but in providing a skill set that empowers kids to “do for themselves,” regardless of their goals or mitigating circumstances. Given his background in developmental psychology, Rende understands the importance in today’s child development and psychology research of “evidence-based practices.” Concepts, general ideas, and anecdotal stories about parenting successes are all well and good, but like approaches in psychotherapy, the methods must be backed by a preponderance of evidence. Narrowing down a list of the intersections between entrepreneurial traits and child-development research, Rende and Prosek settled on seven traits, across the cognitive, personal, and social domains of development: exploration, innovation, optimism, risk-taking, industriousness, likability, and service to others. The authors strike an excellent balance throughout the book, examining approaches that draw on evidence-based research across multiple disciplines. They also take measures not to throw out the baby with the bath water, at times noting some of the common-sense anecdotal stories—e.g., shouldn’t kindergarteners have time outside every day?—and then providing the evidence that supports it.

The authors’ suggestions and insights cover a wide spectrum of child-raising situations and should, when properly applied, deliver lasting results.”
–Kirkus Reviews