Forget gentle parenting and social emotional learning: Adversity is the formula for resilient kids

There was a time when parents, schools and society aimed to create resilient, independent kids.

But somewhere along the way, we ceded that noble pursuit for squishy concepts like happiness, kindness and empathy while helicopter-like hovering became the parental default setting.

And that shift has produced Gen Z, who report being more anxious, more depressed and less capable of moving through the world without having their hands held.

Astonishingly, nearly 40 percent of young people have received mental health treatment compared to 26 percent of Gen Xers.

But a new book, “Bad Therapy: Why the Kids aren’t Growing Up,” by Abigail Shrier, does not just explore how a generation reared in a hyper-therapized culture with more resources and diagnosis than ever can be so mired in mental health struggles — it also offers solutions.

And though the writer notes she’s not a parenting expert — but does have twin 13-year-old boys and an 11-year-old girl — this blueprint for escaping the doom loop couldn’t be more welcome.