Book: Never Enough
Author: Jennifer Wallace
Pages: 320
This is my 96th read for the year
The author takes a deep dive in the book into the pressures kids face these days related to getting ahead. Some starting as early as elementary school - they feel like they are in a race to pack their schedules with top classes, tons of extra cirricular activites and multiple sports just in hopes of securing a spot in a top college. What has happened is an increase of anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and even self harm. Parents are not helping. Social media is not helping. Kids are hearing from every angle that no matter what they do - it will never be enough.
I am glad I found this book. I actually attended a talk the author gave in relation to college admissions, and then read her book. I have two juniors in high school and we are in the thick of a college search. And this book gave me a chance to take a step back. Parents tend to get wrapped up in the college search right along with their kids and see the pressures that kids are under. Kids have so much pressure today and feel they don't matter unless they do "xyz" - whatever that may be. They feel like their accomplishments are what define them.
One of my favorite quotes from the book is this: "“our kids are absorbing the idea that their worth is contingent on their performance—their GPA, the number of social media followers they have, their college brands—not for who they are deep at their core. They feel they only matter to the adults in their lives, their peers, the larger community, if they are successful.”
Parents need to stop putting kids on their shoulders to get them above everyone else. I want my kids to know that where they go to college WILL NOT MATTER. I want kids who decide not to go to college, or go into a trade, or go on to work that they are worth every bit as much as that kid who went to Harvard. College, and life, are what you make it.
My kids will find their people. They will find their way. And yours will too. Check this book out to gain some perspective.
Stars: 4.5
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