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

Michael Thompson's book is an informative read for parents and provides readers with many examples of the struggles children go through throughout their school lives. He points out the differences in all children and reminds readers of the importance of identifying with the student and allowing that child to make mistakes and learn from those mistakes. Thompson also offers his "best wisdom" and outlines five of the most important things he has learned from students. Parts of this list include a description of how students are always searching for success, that students crave a reciprocal relationship with adults and how students want to feel useful in the classroom.Overall, this is a useful book for parents to read to gain an understanding of the development process in children and possibly identify with other struggling students.

I bought this book to help me deal with my middle school child and the anxiety she is facing. The book points out that parents should ask more specific questions about school rather than, "How was school." It also emphasized the importance of remembering what it was like to be in school. School, not just the academics, is hard. I enjoyed reading the scenarios to stress these points. However, I found this book to be more helpful for me as an educator. This book could help teachers get in the minds of their students and help them become better teachers.

Great book - definitely makes me think about my son's high school experience, now that he's a freshman. I am definitely more mindful in listening to him and not putting pressure on him. Great read for parents.

Michael Thompson has an easy writing style and salient points to make in this latest book on pressured children. In the spirit of "A Tribe Apart" (Hersch) he shadows days in the lives of students and draws some worthwhile and meaty conclusions. His background in psychology gives credibility to his analysis; his readable prose will reach a wide audience. As a middle school principal we will use this book with parents in our Book Club; working in an international school in southeast Asia a book about "pressured children" is most appropriate.

Seems to be solidly built.

Excellent parenting advice from someone who's seen it all.

great book

Thompson's book is from an excellent point of view, not that of a parent or teacher but of a school counselor. He offers a unique insight into the student's world and how they perceive school. He is a good mediator between parents and children; he helps parents better understand all the pressures on a student. It is also interesting for teachers because they often forget what it feels like to be sitting in the desks staring at the same person for 180 days. The book is an easy read with analogies and situations that are very relatable. Although the book flows nicely the author tends to discuss a topic for too long. What he wrote in five pages he could have wrote in three. Overall, I did enjoy the book and picked up a few tips for my own students and classroom.

Helpful to get you to see things from your child's point of view --- too easy to assess their situation given all your own experience and applying your desires and expectations to them. A useful read.