Dopamine Kids

From the bestselling author of Hunt, Gather, Parent comes a revolutionary five-step guidepacked with practical, science-backed strategiesthat shows you how to raise confident, happy kids while breaking the cycle of overdependence on screens and ultraprocessed foods. Dopamine Kids promises to wean families from two modern scourges: screens and ultraprocessed foods...in essence, promising a solution to the problems laid out by Jonathan Haidt in The Anxious Generation....On the other side, readers can discover lives full of authentic pleasure. The New York TimesWhen Dr. Michaeleen Doucleff decided to address her familys screen time and dependence on processed foods, she found that parenting advice around these products is woefully outdated, hinging on studies of dopamine that date back twenty to fifty years. But new research reveals that contrary to what weve been told, dopamine isnt the molecule of happiness and pleasure. Instead, dopamine gives us motivation, and can drive us to engage in activities that we dont actually enjoyactivities that can make us feel sad, lonely, anxious, and depressed. What works, Doucleff found, isnt depriving children of pleasure, but bringing more joy and pleasure back into their lives. Merging modern neuroscience and psychology with practical experience, Dopamine Kids is a five-step operating manual for habit remodeling that is tailored for parents and their children, shifting the power dynamic back to families. Instead of devices and foods controlling us, we can control them, retraining children's brains so they want and reach for activities and foods that leave them feeling good afterward. Youll learn how to: - Create boundaries around screens and ultraprocessed foods that not only work but that kids enjoy; - Replace screen time with equally enticing activities; - Set up your routine, so that so that the healthy options become the default without negotiation or struggle; - Celebrate your familys choices before, during, and after trying new hobbies, and, finally, - Transform your home into a screen-free sanctuary that protects conversations, focus, sleep, and adventure. After reading Dopamine Kids, you will be empowered to create habits that genuinely fulfill your familys biological and emotional needs, to bring true satisfaction and purpose to their lives, and to improve their behavior, happiness, and confidence. The Anxious Generation alerted you to the danger of screens, but the demands of the twenty-first century require that you use them anyway. Dopamine Kids is your handbook for solving that fundamental problem of our timesand for teaching your kids to have a healthy relationship with technology and food.