Overachieving Parents, Underachieving Children: Working Together to Help Your Child Find Success

Defined as the ``youngster who does not live up to his or her strengths and talents,'' the underachieving child is often a source of intense frustration and disappointment in success-oriented families. From her clinical experience with families caught in the overachieving/underachieving cycle, family therapist Bodenburg has developed a program of techniques and tools that enlist parents and children in teamwork. She depicts the destructive family dynamic that results from the child's and parents' differing expectations and presents concise case studies that demonstrate effective ways to break that cycle. While much here has been proposed before--e.g., the importance of listening attentively and of respecting individual differences--parents will find help in Bodenburg's straightforward guidelines for motivating a disorganized, uninterested or rebellious child by turning conflicts into learning experiences. (Nov.)