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 responses 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.
