BIG REACTORS

An invaluable, practical guide that shows parents how to help their highly sensitive child learn to manage their big emotions and thrive

Highly sensitive children (HSCs) process and react to experiences more deeply than other children. They are sometimes called "spirited," "deeply feeling," or "big reactors." These children are amazingfierce and feisty, persistent and passionate, insightful and empatheticbut are also prone to more intense and frequent meltdowns. Parenting a big reactor can be challenging and exhausting, but it doesn't have to be.

In Big Reactors: Practical Strategies for Parenting Highly Sensitive Children, child development specialist Claire Lerner helps parents develop the tools to support their HSC's strengths while also showing them how to cope with everyday challenges. She details the key traits of HSCs, describes the science behind the traits, and shows how parents and other caregivers can help these kids thrive. Through detailed case descriptions from her decades of work in the trenches with these complex kids, Lerner reveals the process she guides parents through to understand the root cause of their child's challenges and to come up with sensitive, effective strategies that work in real life, not just in theory. This provides a reality-based roadmap for how parents and other caregivers can find solutions that work for their unique child and family.

Big Reactors answers the burning question: How can I be the calm, connected parent I want to be for my fierce and feisty child when popular, "gentle parenting" strategies don't work? It shows how moms and dads can be supportive and loving while also setting the limits their spirited kids need to develop self-regulation and build resilience. The approach set forth in this book helps parents bring out the best in their passionate, creative, wonderful, sensitive children and creates more peace and joy in families.

Claire Lerner, MSW, is a licensed clinical social worker and child development specialist. She has been a practicing clinician for more than 35 years, provides training and consultation to preschools and pediatric residents at Children's National Medical Center, and served as the Director of Parenting Resources at ZERO TO THREE for 18 years. She is the author of Why Is My Child In Charge? A Roadmap to Ending Power Struggles, Increasing Cooperation, and Finding Joy in Parenting Young Children. Claire is the mother of two very spirited children and lives in Bethany Beach, Delaware.