The Pressured Child Freeing Our Kids from Performance Overdrive and Helping Them Find Success in School and Life

The push for students to excel at school and get into the best colleges has never been more intense. In this invaluable new book, thebestselling co-author ofRaising Cainaddresses America's performance-driven obsession with the accomplishments of its kidsand provides a deeply humane response. "How was school?" These three words contain a world of desire on the part of parents to know what their children are learning and experiencing in school each day. Children may not divulge much, but psychologist Michael Thompson suggests that the answers are there if we know how to read the clues andequally importantif we remember our own school days. School, Thompson reminds us, occupies more waking hours than kids spend at home; and school is full not just of studies but of human emotionexcitement, fear, envy, love, anger, sexuality, boredom, competitiveness. Through richly detailed interviews, case histories, and student e-mail journals, including those of his own children, Thompson illuminates the deeper psychological journey that school demands, a journey that all children must take in order to grow and develop, whether they are academic aces or borderline dropouts. Most of us remember this journey, if we are honest with ourselves, but our children must experience it in their own way, for better or worse. In stories that are by turns poignant, shocking, uplifting, and inspiring, we see students grapple with the textured reality of their lives, devising their own unique strategies to survive and thrive in school. For parents, this book reveals the hidden emotional landscape of the school day and points toward the answers we both desire and dread as we seek to help our children find success in school and beyond. Bridging the worlds of the growing and the grown-up, and told in Thompson's compassionate voice as both psychologist and father,The Pressured Childshows us how to listen for the truth of our children's experienceand how to trust, love, and ultimately let go of a child. It is a crucial book for our stressful ageand an ideal resource for families struggling to survive it. From the Hardcover edition.

Michael Thompson, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist, lecturer, consultant, and former seventh-grade teacher. He conducts workshops across the United States on social cruelty, children’s friendships, and boys’ development. With Catherine O’Neill Grace and Lawrence J. Cohen, Ph.D., he co-authored Best Friends, Worst Enemies: Understanding the Social Lives of Children and Mom, They’re Teasing Me: Helping Your Child Solve Social Problems. With Dan Kindlon, Ph.D., he co-authored the New York Times bestseller Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys. He is also the author of Speaking of Boys: Answers to the Most-Asked Questions About Raising Sons. He lives in Arlington, Massachusetts.

Teresa Barker, who collaborated with Thompson on Raising Cain and Speaking of Boys, is a journalist and mother of three school-age children. She lives in Wilmette, Illinois.


From the Hardcover edition.