Paternal listeners email the show regularly with requests to cover various topics on the show. Some are serious and some are silly, but one request just keeps coming: How do we teach our kids resilience? Dr. Dennis S. Charney is a leading expert in the study of resilience and has spent decades examining the causes of anxiety, fear and depression. He’s also interviewed prisoners of war, victims of rape and assault, survivors of natural disasters, and frontline healthcare workers about the traits that have helped them overcome trauma, all in an effort to better understand how we can all learn to be more resilient.

On this episode of Paternal, Dr. Charney discusses some of the most compelling factors to building resilience in yourself and your kids, including facing your fears, developing social groups, and establishing core values for you and your family. He also recounts a life-threatening experience that tested his own resilience, decades after living a charmed life studying the challenges of others. Dr. Charney is the co-author of Resilience: The Science of Mastering Life’s Greatest Challenges.

Episode Timestamps:

00:00 - 05.30 - Introduction

05:30 - 07:59 - A life-threatening test of resilience

07:59 - 13:27 - Defining resilience and studying trauma victims

13:27 - 18:00 - On facing your fears

18:00 - 19:50 - On the values of optimism

19:50 - 22:15 - On developing social groups and the connection to resilience

22:15 - 24:18 - Discussing the value of role models

24:18 - 28:05 - On identifying your core beliefs, values and family history

28:05 - 29:46 - Discussing the connection between gratitude and resilience

29:46 - 32:15 - On what parents get wrong when they think about teaching kids resilience

Read The Transcript For This Episode