LHCS Site Council Sponsored Parent-Teacher Book Club Discussion Book: “The Gift of Failure” by Jessica Lahey

Date and Time: Nov 10, 7:30-8:30pm

Location: 36th and Bryant Community Center, 3554 Bryant Ave S

We are meeting in a Community Center so that we can enjoy a glass of wine during the discussion. Please feel free to bring a bottle of wine for yourself and/or to share if you so desire. We will bring glasses, cheese and desserts.

Discussion Leader: Heather Alden, a school social work at one of St. Paul’s highest performing public elementary schools, Expo, where she supports children and families with great success.

Discussion Content: Have you ever done your children's homework for them? Have you driven to school to drop off an assignment that they forgot? Have you done a college student's laundry? What about coming along to Junior's first job interview?

According to Lahey, parents are "too worried about [their children's] future achievements to allow [them] to work through the obstacles in their path. Kids are anxious, afraid and risk-averse because parents are more focused on keeping their children safe, content and happy in the moment than on parenting for competence.

Furthermore, we as a society so obsessed with learning as a product — grades, scores and other evidence of academic and athletic success — that we have sacrificed learning in favor of these false idols."

If you’re interested in this topic, please join us for the discussion on Nov 10. You can read the book OR simply read this article on “Over Parenting” prior to the meeting: http://www.mprnews.org/story/2015/08/29/npr-books-thread-overparenting