Too Safe For Their Own Good: How risk and responsibility help teens thrive

In this well thought-out and lucid book, Michael Ungar makes a compelling case for us to stop bubble-wrapping our children. Healthy risk-taking is a crucial component of identity formation and Ungar provides a much-needed guide for parents looking to find the right balance between healthy risks and harmful ones.‘ - Michael Carr-Gregg, adolescent psychologist and author of The Princess Bitchface Syndrome

Ungar’s thought-provoking book is both wise and practical. All of us parents, therapists and educators who work with adolescents will benefit from his ideas on what teenagers require for optimal growth. This is a paradigm-shifting book.’ - Mary Pipher, author of Reviving Ophelia

While our kids are safer now than they have ever been, we are constantly fearful for them. We drive them everywhere, organise their time, and cocoon them from every imaginable danger, assuming we’re doing the right thing. Even when they are teenagers we continue to manage their lives. Without intending to, we may be holding back their development.

In this ground-breaking new book, internationally renowned family therapist and social worker Michael Ungar shows why our constant need to keep our kids safe often puts them in harm’s way. By protecting them from failure and disappointment, challenge and responsibility, many of our children are missing out on the benefits that come with manageable amounts of risk.

Accessible, inspiring and practical, Too Safe For Their Own Good helps concerned parents set appropriate limits and provides concrete suggestions for allowing children the chance to experience the rites of passage that will help them become competent, happy, thriving adults.