I appreciate the authors singular goal in writing this book. Education on what we can do and what we can say to turn "failures" into character-building moments. The approach was clear and concise with a three step set: contain, resolve, and evolve. The author emphasizes the important of presence with a child in the midst of their challenges to walk them through toward building character. I appreciate the research, the practical steps, and the readability of this book. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Every child messes up. At the time, these setbacks can seem so big that parents are sure their child's future will be wrecked or their own reputations damaged beyond repair. Fortunately, “fails” can be opportunities for children to develop character and grit. This playbook offers advice about how parents can process setbacks and walk their children through the repercussions.
I appreciated the practical examples. Some are "light" like friendship issues while others are "heavy" like alcohol overdose. But most are relatable to the average parent.
The advice is also practical, such as limiting exposure, rebuilding trust and managing my fears before I chat with my child about the situation.
The writing style is engaging, empathetic and compassionate. I felt like I was chatting with a trusted friend. I don't know the author or her reputation, though, and I found myself wondering at times why she's an authority on children and if I could trust her insights.
Although my children are almost all grown adults, I still find this advice helpful. I can use the information to process my fears and feelings then talk to my children and help them discern how to process setbacks they face.

When we think of how to help our children we don't often think of how our failures can help them, but Michelle Icard shares the strengths and growth that come through failure. How without failure a child cannot grow and succeed. Eight Setbacks That Can Make a Child a Success was a powerful read for me. I have a fourteen year old and so I expected to find this book mostly helpful for him, but Eight Setbacks also helped me think and reflect on my 10 and 8 year old boys as well. So often we go to a book when we are in the midst of struggles with a certain situation, but how much more helpful it would be if we prepared in advance. I recommend parents of growing children as early as 8 years old, but especially by the time they are 10 and teenage years prepare themselves with knowledge and tools of how to handle setbacks that their children will inevitably encounter. The goal is not to completely prevent failure, but empower ourselves and our children with the tools they need to be better because of these failures or rather, setbacks.

This is the second book I’ve read by Michelle ICard. Her books are easy to read and provide a good basis for parents navigating the tween / teen circus. This book reminds us to step back a little and allow our child to navigate life during the challenging times.
The book is broken into 8 areas that can create difficltly including struggling to connect with peers and struggling at school.
A useful book and well recommended.

Thank you Rodale and NetGalley for an ARC in return of my honest review .

Eight Setbacks That Can Make a Child a Success: What to Do and What to Say to Turn "Failures" into Character-Building Moments by Michelle Icard is a wonderful resource for parents and anyone who works with youth. This book does a great job showing the normality of failure and how each can be dealt with. I really appreciate that the book specifically deals with different types of setbacks and how to guide kids through them. This is a book to keep on hand as needed! I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher with no obligations. These opinions are entirely my own.

Performance anxiety is ever present, in our relationships, work environments, and most of all, our parenting. Being a parent can be rewarding, but it can also bring with it, many feelings of failure and anxiety. It’s the most important job, but also, the most difficult. In the book, 8 setbacks that can make a child a success, the author, Michelle Icard provides a rulebook of how to handle 8 tough situations that children and parents may encounter. This is a practical guide that should be read by every parent. The major premise that is communicated in a logical, straight forward way (for both parents and child) is that everyone makes mistakes, they can be remedied and you can successfully learn from the mistake and prevent it from reoccurring. This is a must read for parents of kids of all ages. Thank you the publisher and NetGalley for the advance review copy in exchange for my honest review.

Eight Setbacks That Can Make a Child a Success is an absolute must-read for any parent or educator. Icard describes how different types of "failures" can help children grow, and give solid, concrete advice for how parents can handle each "failure." I especially appreciated that she gives case studies and examples; this book is not just theoretical, it gives specific examples and actions that parents can take to help their children learn and grow from their setbacks.

I read a lot of parenting books, and to be honest, many of them feel redundant. This didn’t. I felt like many of the stories shared were relatable experiences I can imagine happening with my kids as they get older, and I plan to use ICard’s strategies and approaches to parent my kids through some of these challenges. I found myself inspired and feeling like I now have more tools to parent better- than I did before I read this book. Thank you to the author, publishers, and NetGalley for the advance review copy!

Eight Setbacks That Can Make a Child a Success is a clearly written and accessible parenting guide for navigating challenges and turning them into teachable moments written and curated by Michelle Icard. Released 22nd Aug 2023 by Penguin Random House on their Rodale imprint, it's 288 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats.

This books accessibility and "do-ability" for regular everyday parents, facing inevitable challenges raising tweens/teens, is clear eyed and impressive. She gives usable advice for turning crises into teachable moments. She is humorous, clever, and much of her advice is *logical* and when we're in the middle of an emotionally overwhelming situation with our kids, it's good to be prepared beforehand. The situations she covers will be familiar to virtually every parent: issues with rebellion, consideration, personal hygeine, academic performance, family issues, and more.

She deconstructs the background and underlying dynamics in each situation, and gives concrete, sensible advice about how to react and how to positively handle each. Her advice is general enough to be applicable to more than just these 8 situations.

Four and a half stars. This would be an excellent choice for public library acquisition, home use, as well as for school counselors, foster parents, advocates, and similar, for people who work with kids in challenging and difficult situations.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Parenting is hard - especially when my oldest is 9 going on teenager and my 4yo is emulating his brother. This book is so helpful with tactics and resolutions to change setbacks into successes. I appreciated her time and effort into writing this book and I know that I will use it in the future.

Thanks to NetGalley and Rodale Books for this eARC. This book is out now.

I had high hopes for this book. As a psychologist and a mom, I’m aware of how this is a topic most parents don’t know how to face or address. The author started out strong- outlining ways that “failure” can be a tool for individual growth as well as helping the community. She outlined ways we as adults hinder our kids’ and young adults’ failures, thereby robbing them (and communities) from challenging perfectionism and constricted definitions of success. She exhorted the reader to step away! let them struggle! don’t always intervene. The best part of the book was her formula for (teens/young adults) to succeed: 1) leave the nest/community, 2) enter into an endeavor which presents an opportunity for failure, 3) face and overcome their own mistakes and failures, and 4) return to the community a better version of themselves.

But then the author launches into an outline of exactly what she said not to do: how to contain, intervene, and guide the *child* now (no longer talking to parents of adult teens) so their failures are indeed limited and parent-processed. The rest of the book delves into eight typical “failures” which school-age kids face, and ways parents can intervene. Meh.

I found it a disappointing book. She didn’t live up to the premise she outlines at all. She did touch on the issue of special-needs kids in only one chapter, again focusing on school-age, public schooling, not the emerging adult who is struggling with failure and disability. Finally, her tone was condescending as she addressed parents, and she over-relied on silly anecdotes and excessive attempts at being “funny”, which I found annoying.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to review this new release.

This is a must read for all parents and teachers. It includes practical, tangible, and realistic information and suggestions. I loved this one!

I received a free e-arc of this book through Netgalley.
This is really a good book for parents of any age children/young adults to read before there are any issues as well as when problems start popping up. It has very specific step by step directions for helping your child through a crisis so you definitely want to own or check out a copy of this book to have on hand for those situations. I really appreciated the very specific information and could think of situations with certain children that this could be handy for.

My sister is expecting her first baby and has two soon to be step kids, I know they’re all going to go through things in life and I want to be as prepared mentally and emotionally as a I can be. Do I know they’re gonna struggle just like I did as a child/teen? Of course. But I want to be able to help them grow into well functioning adults not hinder them by coddling them. Through reading the real life experiences and tidbits of information, I feel I am 1% less stressed about going from no kiddos in my life to having three and not completely ruining them. My husband is also a fourth grade teacher and I will be getting him this once it releases to read and encourage his staff to do the same

This is the 3rd Michelle Icard I've read. I really love reading her books about raising teens and tweens. Like the other books I've read by Icard, this book has a conversational style that is easy to read. Icard's suggestions feel down-to-earth and logical. She understands the developmental stages that teens and tweens experience and guides parents in supporting their children as they learn from their mistakes. By calmly dealing with 'failures' that arise, Icard shows how parents can help change these 'failures' into opportunities to learn and grow. Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy in return for my honest review.

As a parent, I am constantly looking to equip myself with the tools to help my children navigate their lives. I enjoyed this book and found it helpful. The examples really helped illustrate the author's points.