Big Life Journal – Growth Mindset & Gratitude Journal for Teens and Tweens (Ages 11–17) – Guided Workbook with Prompts, Reflection & Goal-Setting to Build Confidence, Positivity & Resilience – Gift for Teen Boys & Girls

I’m a social scientist who works in a laboratory and a student doctor of clinical health service psychology at a med school. I’m extremely particular about the self-help books I pay attention to or suggest to others, for obvious reasons. I was shopping around for a solid, evidence-based workbook/journal for my 13-year-old son and came across this journal. After reading more about it, I decided to purchase it and I’m so glad I did. I’m very impressed with it. It’s easy to read, the pages are attractive, and from all the pages I’ve flipped through and read for myself, I can say that the claims are based on contemporary scientific research, rather than just a bunch of baseless claims or someone’s subjective experience. The quality of the book is great; the pages are nice and thick and the hardback has a lay-flat design. If you’re shopping for an older child or a younger teen, buy it. It’s worth the 30 bucks.

This journal arrived within a day or two of purchase and I was really pleased with it overall! I was looking for gift ideas for my 16 year old daughter when I stumbled across the Big Life Journal. She’s interested in anime, graphic novels, and your typical blank journals; so I thought this would be something she’d like. The graphics jumped out at me and the content seems positive and compelling enough to keep my daughter invested in it beyond the first few pages. Teenage life is weird. I figure they all could use the esteem boost and motivation, without this being the cornball parent move. For the price it’s very substantially sized with quality paper and vibrant graphics. I ordered the adult version which is similar in price but, unfortunately, is smaller, thinner and the print quality is much worse. I’m a little surprised the teen version is better quality. I’ll be returning the adult version but am happy with this teen version. Will update my review once I have a chance to see how she interacts with it and get feedback from the actual teen.

When looking for Christmas gifts, this book popped up in my feeds and I am sure glad it did. I was hesitant if our 5th grade son would appreciate the pages as much as I was hoping he would. With everything going on during this pandemic, he has struggled to cope. Everything in his world seemed to flip upside down...can't have friends over, can't go to school, have to school online, extracurriculars cancelled, etc. For a socially active kid, these were hard for him to deal with. We would talk about things, but he needed more. At first he was like 'yay a book'. But then we talked about the purpose and flipped through some of the pages after others were off playing with their gifts. That night he 'worked' through several of the pages and asked if he and I could talk about them. AMAZING progress! He has since worked through more of the book and I'm seeing him slowly begin to use words from the book...positive talk. I would recommend for any parent looking for something to help their child during these unprecedented times and our new normal. Their little brains (while absorbent) are not wired to deal with things like this. If you are looking for a lot of empty lined pages, this is not the book for you. There are numerous guided activities to help your child think about how they deal with things or the people in their lives. Worth the buy, in my opinion. I'm a very pleased parent.

This book has very good concepts. We purchased this for our 11 year old son and have just walked through it with him together, which has made it helpful for the whole family.

Great journal for getting kids to think creatively!

Turned out to be a good present for teen-ager.

My 11 year old received this for Christmas and has been doing it each night before bed for the last couple of weeks. It is very engaging, interesting to look at, great information, well written, concise, and accessible. My child has been struggling with social anxiety and executive function issues, and this has really helped them shift their mind set about themselves and things around them in a positive, growth oriented way. Highly recommend.

I've been a customer of Big Life Journals for a long time. I've bought the kid version for my two kids over the last 4-5 years and decided to order the Teen edition for my oldest who just turned 13 years old. I was very disappointed to see that some sections are all about social media. There's one activity that is completely dedicated to starting a YouTube channel. All the activities are centered around that - from brainstorming ideas for your channel to recording your first episode and more. Every family is different but we are trying to keep our kids off social media - we encourage them to get out and explore, play sports, read, spend time with friends, and other activities that don't involve screens. The last thing I expected from a mindfulness journal was for it to encourage the use of social media and screen time. I know this isn't a big deal for other parents which is why I wish there was more of a preview to the journal so everyone can decide if it's right for their family. Had I known ahead of time, I wouldn't have ordered it. Very disappointed.

Fantastic! My daughter is getting great use of this book! Highly recommended!

Very disappointed the book had been used and tipexed out with some writing still visible. Book cover was all scratched too.

Good book

This product was used. There is a name in the book and on some of the pages, the answered have already been written down. Easy to erase, but not what I expected for a $39 book.

The layout is fun. My son enjoys using his own. He completed the initial one and moved to this one. Its different and unique.