Dan Kindlon, Ph.D., a member of the Harvard University faculty for over fifteen years, teaches child psychology and conducts research in child development. A leading clinical and research psychologist specializing in behavioral problems in children and adolescents, Dr. Kindlon has focused on the diagnosis and treatment of emotional issues, learning disabilities and attention deficit disorders in over 20 years of clinical practice. He is the author of many articles in scientific journals and several books, including Alpha Girls, Raising Cain, Too Much of a Good Thing, and Tough Times, Strong Children. Dr. Kindlon lectures widely to groups of parents, educators, and mental health professionals, and has made many national media appearances, including on The Today Show, 20/20, CNN, and National Public Radio. He lives outside Boston with his wife and two children.
“The most important thing to remember, the guiding principle, is to try to keep your son's self esteem intact while he is in school. That is the real risk to his success and to his mental health. Once he's out of school, the world will be different. He'll find a niche where the fact that he can't spell well or didn't read until he was eight, won't matter. But if he starts to hate himself because he isn't good at schoolwork, he'll fall into a hole that he'll be digging himself out of for the rest of his life.”