Authors William Stixrud and Ned Johnson have watched firsthand as the crises around education and children’s mental health have converged in the post-pandemic years.
Their book The Self-Driven Child (2019) was ahead of the curve in addressing the way these forces converge in adolescents at pivotal moments as children develop their sense of autonomy, ambition, self-discipline, and learning style.
The authors will hold an online talk on Wednesday, April 9 from 7 to 8:30 p.m., using material from their work with parents and children as a clinical psychologist and tutor. In their talk, they will share prompts to help parents recognize and rewire their instinctual response​s to stressful situations, exercises to give them the language to communicate clearly and calmly, and lists to keep anxiety responses in check and big-picture goals in view. A Q&A will follow.
They will look to pull essential principles from the science in The Self-Driven Child, and their new book, The Seven Principles for Raising a Self-Driven Child: A Workbook (2025), which aim to guide parents to develop the practice of being a nonanxious presence in children’s lives.
This is a free online event via Zoom. Register for tickets and login info.
The event is co-sponsored by The Learning Cooperatives of Princeton, Bucks and Raritan; the Hopewell Valley Municipal Alliance; Liberated Learners; Root and Wild Schoolhouse; The Painted Oak Project; Fusion Academy Princeton; Natural Creativity; Home School Explorer’s Club; and Creekside Homeschool Learning Cooperative.
