Powerful ideas from top nonfiction
Try Blinkist to get the key ideas from 7,000+ bestselling nonfiction titles and podcasts. Listen or read in just 15 minutes.
Start your free trial
Blink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
Listen to the Intro
The Optimistic Child summary
Martin E.P. Seligman
A Proven Program to Safeguard Children Against Depression and Build Lifelong Resilience
16 mins
Table of Contents
The Optimistic Child
Summary of 6 key ideas
Audio & text in the Blinkist app
Key idea 1 of 6
Optimists come up with more positive explanations when things go wrong.
Conventional wisdom tells us that an optimist is a glass-half-full sort of person, while a pessimist sees the glass as half empty. But there’s a lot more to optimism than that. In fact, where you stand on the optimism-pessimism spectrum impacts every area of your life, including your mental health.
A person with a pessimistic mindset will dwell on the worst possible explanation for something bad happening. For instance, if she fails an exam, a pessimist might think: “I failed this exam because I’m stupid. I’ll never be able to succeed.” An optimist in the same situation, on the other hand, might think: “I failed because I didn’t study hard enough. Next time I’ll work harder – and I’ll do better.”
The key message here is: Optimists come up with more positive explanations when things go wrong.
When a pessimist turns to worst-case scenarios about the future, it’s known as catastrophic thinking. But pessimism isn’t just about being downbeat about failure. A pessimistic mindset can negatively impact your whole life. The reason for this is that when you dwell on worst-case scenarios, you start feeling as if the future is bleak and that changing your situation is impossible. These feelings can quickly lead to symptoms of depression, such as low mood and listless behavior. Perhaps unsurprisingly, pessimistic children are more likely to become low achievers and be depressed later on in life.
The state of feeling powerless to change your situation is known as learned helplessness. When you’re in a state of learned helplessness, you feel as if nothing you do matters. As a result, you often give up without even trying. While researching depression, the author, Martin Seligman, and his team found that extreme feelings of helplessness are one of the root causes of depression. They also found that optimists are more able to resist these feelings. When faced with adversity, optimists keep trying and aren’t easily defeated. This may explain why they’re less likely to suffer from depression than pessimists are.
Luckily, Seligman has discovered that it is possible to “unlearn” helplessness; all it takes is the right tools. Just as we immunize children against physical illnesses, you can immunize your child against pessimism – and help protect them from depression and low achievement.
This immunization works by teaching your child the cognitive skills that foster lifelong optimism, which we’ll explore in the next blinks.
Want to see all full key ideas from The Optimistic Child?
Key ideas in The Optimistic Child
More knowledge in less time
Read or listen
Get the key ideas from nonfiction bestsellers in minutes, not hours.
Find your next read
Get book lists curated by experts and personalized recommendations.
Shortcasts New
We’ve teamed up with podcast creators to bring you key insights from podcasts.
What is The Optimistic Child about?
The Optimistic Child (1996) explores both the benefits of raising children to be optimistic and the dangers of pessimistic thinking. Drawing on psychologist Martin Seligman’s seminal research, this practical guide explains how parents can instill optimism in their children and equip them with a healthy way of thinking.
Best quote from The Optimistic Child
When you teach your child optimism, you are teaching him to know himself, to be curious about his theory of himself and the world.
—Martin E.P. Seligman
Who should read The Optimistic Child?
- Educators looking for a fresh perspective
- Parents seeking new insights
- Anyone suffering from depression and anxiety
Categories with The Optimistic Child
Books like The Optimistic Child
People ❤️ Blinkist
Sven O.
It's highly addictive to get core insights on personally relevant topics without repetition or triviality. Added to that the apps ability to suggest kindred interests opens up a foundation of knowledge.
Thi Viet Quynh N.
Great app. Good selection of book summaries you can read or listen to while commuting. Instead of scrolling through your social media news feed, this is a much better way to spend your spare time in my opinion.
Jonathan A.
Life changing. The concept of being able to grasp a book's main point in such a short time truly opens multiple opportunities to grow every area of your life at a faster rate.
Renee D.
Great app. Addicting. Perfect for wait times, morning coffee, evening before bed. Extremely well written, thorough, easy to use.
People also liked
Start growing with Blinkist now
27 Million
Downloads on all platforms
4.7 Stars
Average ratings on iOS and Google Play
91%
Of Blinkist members create a better reading habit*
*Based on survey data from Blinkist customers