The Parent Venture: Never Enough - When Achievement Culture Becomes Toxic - And What We Can Do About It

In the ever more competitive race to secure the best possible future, today’s students face unprecedented pressure to succeed. Yet this drive to optimize performance has resulted in skyrocketing rates of anxiety, depression, and even self-harm. Parents, educators, and community leaders are facing the same quandary: how can we teach our kids to strive toward excellence without crushing them?

Join The Parent Venture and bestselling author Jennifer Breheny Wallace (Never Enough) as they investigate the deep roots of toxic achievement culture and find out what we must do to fight back. Drawing on interviews with families and educators, Wallace exposes how the pressure to perform is not a matter of parental choice, but baked into our larger society and spurred by increasing income inequality and dwindling opportunities.

This event is sponsored by generous donors from the Mills-Peninsula Hospital Foundation and the San Mateo County Office of Education, in partnership with The Parent Venture.

Parents/caregivers, students, educators, mental health professionals, and community members are welcome. Spanish interpretation will be available. Free admission.