Last Wednesday, the Parent’s Association held our first meeting of 2013, and hosted Catherine Sanderson, Associate Professor of Psychology at Amherst College, who presented a talk called “Five Strategies for Parenting a More Confident Teenager: What the Most Current Research Shows.”
We think we speak for everyone who was in the room when we say this was completely fascinating. Professor Sanderson is a gifted speaker, despite a post-cold touch of laryngitis, and captivated a crowd of concerned parents and faculty/staff. We will get personal for a moment, and put it right out there that being a parent of a preteen or adolescent involves tremendous effort–with no reciprocal encouragement about 90 per cent of the time. Hearing Professor Sanderson identify our anxiety provoking and confusing parenting moments as the norm was very comforting.