Speaker Series Community Events

Join our community read! MPCSD staff and parents/guardians are invited to read Jonathan Haidt's bestselling book The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness. In support of MPCSD's vision to educate and empower students while embracing childhood and adolescence, we are tackling childhood anxiety over a series of parenting events. At our January event, Dr. Camilo Ortiz shared his research on independence therapy and its effective treatment of childhood anxiety. Lenore Skenazy will join us in April with more advice on how letting go can be precisely what children need to develop their independence and thrive. Dr. Ortiz and Ms. Skenazy have collaborated to write a New York Times opinion piece "This Simple Fix Could Help Anxious Kids" describing the benefits to kids when we "start letting them do more things on their own." Ms. Skenazy also informed the parenting chapters of The Anxious Generation and Jon Haidt co-founded her nonprofit Let Grow, which "champions childhood, helping kids build confidence, resilience, and self-reliance through independent play and real life experiences." Throughout the spring, we encourage the adults in our community to read The Anxious Generation, particularly the parenting chapters, and reflect on how we can make changes in our own parenting practices to support children to grow and develop into confident, capable young adults.

Please find The Anxious Generation and Let Grow at Kepler's Books in Menlo Park. Mention your school name at checkout and they will give back 6% to the school, too! Also see your school newsletters for school-based reading clubs and discussion groups around the themes in The Anxious Generation. Together we can make positive change for our children!

MPCSD is pleased to host this six-week series brought to you by Project Cornerstone, a YMCA of Silicon Valley initiative. The course offers tools for strengthening our relationships with our own kids and those in our community. With other MPCSD parents/caregivers in a supportive, welcoming, and safe environment, you will share, discuss, and practice ways to show caring, give support, set boundaries, and build strong relationships that help the youth in your life succeed. This series is for currently enrolled MPCSD parents/guardians only.

The six sessions are in person at the TERC, 181 Encinal Avenue, Atherton, from 9-10:30 a.m.: March 26, April 2, April 16, April 23, April 30, May 7 2025 (no class April 9 because of Spring Break)

Read the course flyer here. Register for the course here.

Lenore Skenazy, author of Free-Range Kids, president of Let Grow, and collaborator on The Anxious Generation, joins us to discuss how ample unstructured time with friends, along with more real-world independence and responsibility can decrease anxiety in children.

And us!

In 2018, Lenore founded Let Grow with Jonathan Haidt and two others. Their mission is to make childhood independence easy, normal and legal again. Let Grow explains not just where our culture took a wrong turn, but real-world ways to get our kids back to having some adventures, solving some problems, and blossoming.

Lenore was dubbed “America’s Worst Mom” after letting her 9-year-old son take the subway alone and then writing about it. In response to the media blowback, she founded “Free-Range Kids,” which launched the anti-helicopter parenting movement. Her belief that our kids are safer and smarter than our culture gives them credit for has landed her on talk shows from The Daily Show to to Dr. Phil to The View, The Today Show, NPR, Good Morning America, Nightline, ABC World News Tonight, CBS Early Show, CNN, FoxNews, Anderson Cooper, the BBC, the CBC – you get the idea.

She has lectured internationally, from Microsoft Headquarters to DreamWorks and she has written for everyone from The Wall Street Journal to Mad Magazine. She holds a BA from Yale and lives in New York City with her husband and beloved computer.

April 2, 2025 • 7:00 p.m. • Hillview Middle School PAC

Is there a child in your life you enjoy reading with? MPCSD kicks off this year's speaker events with a home-grown evening of tips on making reading at home fun while encouraging kids to expand perspective, improve literacy, and increase their own sense of belonging. Please join MPCSD's Coordinator of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (and author) Marissa McGee and MPCSD Reading Specialist Jacqui Cebrian, plus authors Nicole Chen and Sana Rafi, to explore the wide world of children's literature and how reading at home can be a fun and effective part of your child's academic and independence journey. Tips and inspiration can enhance this beloved family experience. Examples of the authors' books pictured here. This event is free and open to the public and will be October 30 at 7:00 p.m. in the Oak Knoll Library. Free childcare for potty-trained children available. Event reading list and resource links (PDF flyer).

October 30, 2024 • 7:00 p.m. • Oak Knoll School Library, 1985 Oak Knoll Lane, Menlo Park