This is a community partnership grant to bring best-selling author Julie Lythcott-Haims to speak to our community. Dr. Lythcott-Haims, a former dean of freshman students at Stanford University, shared insights from her New York Times best-selling book, “How to Raise an Adult.” Drawing on research, conversations with admissions officers, educators, and employers, and on her own insights as a mother and as a student dean, Julie highlighted the ways in which over-parenting harms children and prevents them from developing self-efficacy: the knowledge that one’s own actions lead to outcomes.
While empathizing with the parental hopes and, especially, fears that lead to over-helping, Julie offered practical strategies that underlined the importance of allowing children to make their own mistakes and develop the resilience, resourcefulness, and inner determination necessary to become healthy, thriving adults.
These topics were the exact struggles that many of us dealt with every day as parents when trying to raise our families in a world where their mental health seemed to be challenged on a daily basis. Our community and, therefore, our students, benefited from hearing her perspective.
