The Bonsai Student

Book excerpt: In her work as a clinical psychologist, researcher and former teacher, Dr Judith Locke has seen a disturbing link between high levels of parental effort and poor outcomes for children.Nowhere is this trend more obvious than in schools, where parents and teachers put high levels of care and effort into making students successful, yet many students seem less prepared today for their lives beyond the school gate.In the same easy-to-read style that made her first book, The Bonsai Child, a bestseller, Dr Locke now turns her attention to schooling. She looks at the current environment in parenting and education, and shows the different ways bonsai parenting affects students, parents, teachers and schools. Most importantly, she offers practical and realistic strategies which have helped the thousands of parents she works with clinically and in her sessions for parents and teachers at schools across Australia and New Zealand.The Bonsai Student will show you the best way to be a good parent for your child in their school years.It will teach you how to encourage your child's confidence and capability in their schoolwork so they become motivated and responsible at school, and ready for the years that follow. It is an invaluable resource for parents, teachers and anyone working with parents or children in an educational environment.