Teach Your Children Well: Parenting for Authentic Success

Psychologist Madeline Levine brings together cutting-edge research and thirty years of clinical experience to explode once and for all the myth that good grades, high test scores, and college acceptances should define the parenting endgame.

Parents, educators, and the media wring their hands about the plight of America's children and teens—soaring rates of emotional problems, limited coping skills, disengagement from learning and yet there are ways to reverse these disheartening trends. Teach Your Children Well acknowledges that every parent wants successful children. However, until we are clearer about our core values and the parenting choices that are most likely to lead to authentic, and not superficial, success, we will continue to raise exhausted, externally driven, impaired children who believe they are only as good as their last performance. Real success is always an inside job, argues Levine, and is measured not by today's report card but by the people our children become fifteen or twenty years down the line.

Refusing to be diverted by manufactured controversies such as "tiger moms versus coddling moms," Levine confronts the real issues behind the way we push some of our kids to the breaking point while dismissing the talents and interests of many others. She shows us how to shift our focus from the excesses of hyperparenting and the unhealthy reliance on our children for status and meaning to a parenting style that concentrates on both enabling academic success as well as developing a sense of purpose, well-being, connection, and meaning in our children's lives.

Teach Your Children Well is a call to action. And while it takes courage to make the changes we believe in, the time has come, says Levine, to return our overwrought families to a healthier and saner version of themselves.

"In this powerful text, psychologist Levine (The Price of Privilege) argues that 'our version of success is a failure.' Levine reports that our nation's ideas of success have led to children and teens who are stressed, anxious, depressed, and exhausted (as are many parents). Kids are on a fast track to higher grades and impressive tests scores, prestigious colleges, and relentless competition — goals that are wearing everyone out — rather than focusing on such skills as resilience, creativity, innovative thinking, and the ability to collaborate. While academics are important, Levine maintains, growing up to become authentically successful involves making friends, playing, developing a sense of self and emotional intelligence, and many other nonacademic tasks. In separate chapters, the author takes readers through the stages of child development that occur in elementary, middle school, and high school, and includes practical tips on how parents can help kids flourish during each phase. According to Levine, our society is at a 'tipping point,' and it's time to redefine success so that kids can meet their full potential in academic and other areas without relinquishing their well-being. The text also includes various examples that illustrate the ways in which kids and parents are struggling with our 'dysfunctional system.' Though bucking the trend may be a challenge, parents who want their kids to succeed without compromising their health or losing the joy of learning will be buoyed by Levine's support, encouragement, and guidance." Publishers Weekly Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Psychologist Madeline Levine, author of the New York Times bestseller The Price of Privilege, brings together cutting-edge research and thirty years of clinical experience to explode once and for all the myth that good grades, high test scores, and college acceptances should define the parenting endgame.

Teach Your Children Well is a toolbox for parents, providing information, relevant research and a series of exercises to help parents clarify a definition of success that is in line with their own values as well as their childrens interests and abilities. Teach Your Children Well is a must-read for parents, educators, and therapists looking for tangible tools to help kids thrive in todays high-stakes, competitive culture.

Madeline Levine, PH.D., has been a practicing clinical psychologist in Marin County for the past twenty-five years. She is the author of Viewing Violence and See No Evil: A Guide to Protecting Our Children from Media Violence. A frequent lecturer on child and adolescent issues, she lives in California with her husband and three sons.