Table of Contents

Parent Panic: It Takes You by Surprise; Why Now? "Our Kids Are Competing All the Time"; It's an Animal Thing, When Our Hardwiring Goes Haywire; The Big Take-over: How Our Feelings Pull Us to Push; Beyond the Carrot and the Stick: Fanning the Flames of Your Child's Inner Passion; Rx for Intrinsic Motivation: Encouraging Your Child's Autonomy; The How-to of Autonomy; Stand by Me: Maximising Your Involvement; "What Do You Expect?" Channelling Anxiety into Rules, Guidelines, and Information; Calming Down: "That All Sounds Very Nice, But How Can I Use These Techniques When I'm Feeling So Anxious"; Index.

About the Author

Wendy S. Grolnick, PhD (Longmeadow, MA), professor of psychology at Clark University, is one of the nation's leading parenting researchers. She has conducted pioneering studies on the role parents play in children's motivation and achievement. Dr. Grolnick has been interviewed on National Public Radio's The Public Eye and is frequently quoted in Parents magazine, Family Circle, and Newsday, among other journals. She is the author of The Psychology of Parental Control in addition to many scholarly articles.

Kathy Seal (Santa Monica, CA) is a nationally known parenting journalist and coauthor of Motivated Minds--a Los Angeles Times bestseller. Her articles have appeared in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Family Circle, and the Columbia Journalism Review, among other publications.

Reviews

"Well done, authors. I am going to recommend it to the parents in my practice." -- Dr. Romance blog, February 2, 2009 "In this absorbing and well-written book, Grolnick draws on scientific research to prescribe a less controlling approach. And every time the reader feels tempted to dismiss this gentler approach as "just being nice," Grolnick brings in the numbers to prove her point." -- The Republican, Springfield, MA, February 23, 2009 "Their relevant examples are followed by suggestions that should help readers to deal with their own situations. [It] is loaded with valuable advice school administrators can offer to parents who find themselves in similar circumstances and who want only what is best for their children." -- The School Administrator magazine, September 2009