Big Reactors: Practical Strategies for Parenting Highly Sensitive Children

An invaluable, practical guide that shows parents how to help their highly sensitive child learn to manage their big emotions and thrive.

Highly sensitive children (HSCs) process and react to experiences more deeply than other children. They are sometimes called "spirited," "deeply feeling," or "big reactors." These children are amazing—fierce and feisty, persistent and passionate, insightful and empathetic—but are also prone to more intense and frequent meltdowns. Parenting a big reactor can be challenging and exhausting, but it doesn't have to be.

In Big Reactors: Practical Strategies for Parenting Highly Sensitive Children, child development specialist Claire Lerner helps parents develop the tools to support their HSC's strengths while also showing them how to cope with everyday challenges. She details the key traits of HSCs, describes the science behind the traits, and shows how parents and other caregivers can help them thrive. Through detailed case descriptions from her decades of work in the trenches, Lerner reveals the process she guides parents through to understand the root cause of their child's challenges and come up with sensitive, effective strategies that work in real life, not just in theory. Big Reactors shows parents how they can be supportive and loving while also setting the limits their kids need.

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Release date

Audiobook: January 6, 2026