The Southborough Organization for Schools will host a presentation on Monday on pressured children by noted psychologist and author Dr. Michael Thompson. Here’s a description:
“The Pressured Child” is, in fact, a presentation for “pressured parents” who have forgotten what school is actually like. It is a talk for parents who are gripped by worries and misapprehensions about their children’s life in school.
In the presentation, Dr. Thompson describes the psychological journey that children experience during their thirteen years in school. He reminds parents that children are almost never judging themselves by grades: they are always monitoring their own development and constantly searching for three things: connection, recognition and a sense of power. He illustrates how children find those in many different arenas of school life.
There are three kinds of children in school: 1) those whose journeys are characterized mostly by success, 2) those whose journeys are characterized by a chronic but manageable struggle, and 3) those whose journeys are characterized by fury and despair. Each journey has its own different pressures. Every child is constantly developing strategies for coping with the pressures that he or she feels.
Thompson has written a number of books, including Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys
The talk begins at 7:00 pm on Monday, April 4 at Trottier.
