In November, The New York Times published an article titled What Colleges Want in an Applicant (Everything). Understandably, the topic of college admissions is often fraught with anxiety and frustration, and the details within this article may have heightened people’s concerns about the process.
I love school. As a child in elementary school, I would be so excited to get the school supplies list and go get things like new sharp colored pencils and books.
At Challenge Success, we sometimes get the question: can’t some forms of stress be okay, or even helpful for students?
Denise Pope shares why eliminating class rankings can reduce undue student stress without decreasing engagement.
When I overheard a troubling conversation at a recent dinner about a child’s academic performance, it reminded me about the importance of the words we use when speaking with our kids
My office phone has been ringing lately. A lot. It’s been a while since parents were quite so worried about the impact of media coverage on their children’s mental health.
I always chuckle at Norman Mailer’s pithy depiction of masculine rivalry: “When two men stop in the street to say hello … one of them loses.” But it would not be difficult to extrapolate a bit and substitute “parents” for “men.”
We are all familiar with the adage, “Ask a silly question, you’ll get a silly answer.” The questions that parents ask children are worth considering because the depth of the questions that we present to them correspond closely with the depth of self-awareness and understanding that will be engendered by those questions.
Since my last few weeks have been spent listening, sympathizing, educating, and mostly reassuring parents whose first (or second or third) child has left for college, this column …
As a clinical child psychologist interested in youth sports, I’ve seen a huge cultural shift in the meaning and culture of youth sports. Parents have noticed it, schools have noticed it, and psychology researchers have noticed it.
The most important piece of advice my oldest daughter and I heard when she was packing for college was: Don’t forget to bring a doorstop.
When some parents and students refer to March Madness, they aren’t necessarily talking about basketball. They are referring to this particularly stressful time of year when college admission decisions arrive via email and snail mail.