Welcome to Kathy Seal's Website and Blog

Dealing with the pressures parents face today

Sports Gene: a New Way to Pressure Kids

December 2, 2008

Tags: sports gene, competition, pressure, parental anxiety, stressed-out kids

What will they think of next? When it comes to extracting money from worried parents, there's no shortage of business models. Now the so-called "sports gene" test for only $149 is finding a market for one reason only: because we parents are under so much pressure these days to make sure our kids succeed. That's (more…)

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College Applications Still Driving Kids � and Parents � Crazy

November 29, 2008

Tags: college application, anxiety, parental anxiety, Education Conservancy, U.S. News & World Report, college rankings, parenting, stressed-out parents, stressed-out kids

The glossy pamphlets still flood in: �Live, study, and work in both sleek high-rise towers and turn-of-the-century brownstones,� reads the gorgeously thick Boston University brochure. �Win a Hummer. All you have to do is attend an SJSU football game� trumpets San Jose State University�s.

As kids fill out their college applications amidst the (more…)

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Economic Crisis Adds to Pressure on Parents

November 6, 2008

Tags: pressured parents, parental anxiety, bribing kids to learn, motivating kids to learn, parents, learning, autonomy, college, economic crisis

The economic crisis is adding to the pressures on parents today. Getting together college money is even harder than before. That can ratchet up our worry about how our kids are doing in school, because it seems even more important for them to get good grades and perhaps a scholarship. And it seems all the more (more…)

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How to Relieve College Application Pressure

October 30, 2008

Tags: college application, anxiety, parental anxiety, parenting, stressed-out parents, stressed-out kdis

Baylor University's student newspaper, The Lariat, recently revealed that the school has paid already-admitted freshmen to retake the SAT. The program raised average test scores for incoming freshmen, and therefore could help the school�s US News & World Report ranking. Faculty, who hadn't known about this latest example of the misuse of testing in (more…)

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Books and Articles

Helping Kids Deal with Bullies
Scouting Magazine

Are Parents Too Involved with Their Children?
The short answer is "no."

Saying No to Kids in a Yes Culture
Why Limits are Good for Kids

Marketing of Colleges Increases Family Stress
A Better Way to Choose a College

Pay to Learn Shortchanges Kids
What the research tells us

Too Much Homework, Too Little Play
New York Times

The Trouble with Talent
Lear's

Giving People a Clear Sign They're Curbing Global Warming
from the San Diego Union-Tribune

Transforming Teaching & Learning Through Technology
Carnegie Reporter

Alternative Pathways to College
Carnegie Reporter

The Tales Old Cookbooks Tell
Family Circle