Relationships/CommunicationWellbeing/Mental HealthSocial Emotional/Behavioral

Dr. Doug Bolton

HYBRID EVENT - Never Give Up On Kids: How to Go from End-of-Your-Rope to Hope

Noon CST 7pm CST

When

Wed, Apr 15, 2026 @ Noon and 7pm CST

Where

HYBRID EVENT - On Zoom and in person in the Silverleaf Room at the Culinary and Hospitality Center at College of DuPage (COD) in Glen Ellyn, IL at noon, and on Zoom at 7 p.m.

Program Takeaways:

Misbehavior is stress behavior—not a motivation problem.
Kids don’t act out because they want to—they act out because they’re overwhelmed and dysregulated.

Punishment and rewards often backfire long-term.
Incentives may change behavior temporarily but can reduce intrinsic motivation and damage relationships.

Connection regulates the brain.
When kids feel safe, valued, and supported, they can access higher-level thinking and problem-solving.

Development matters more than we think.
Executive functioning skills (focus, planning, impulse control) are still developing into the late 20s—many struggles are developmental, not defiant.

Look “upstream,” not just at behavior.
Instead of reacting to behavior, we must ask: What’s causing this stress? What does this child need?

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Doug Bolton’s slide deck:

Children’s mental health challenges have reached epidemic levels amid high-stakes pressure for kids to succeed, and adults urgently need a roadmap to healthy child-development. Participants will find a deeply empathetic, hopeful guide to creating strongly-bonded families.

Bolton will come to GPS with evidence-based research, compassion, and experience to assist us in restoring our children’s wellbeing and motivation.

Bolton believes that when we parent and attempt to control our children with incentives or punishments we are focusing on short-term compliance at the cost of long-term physical and mental health. Instead, Bolton will offer strategies to help kids feel more connected, less anxious, less shamed, and more securely grounded.

Bolton is a clinical psychologist and educational leader who has worked in therapeutic schools as a school psychologist and principal. He currently maintains a private practice and is the author of the highly regarded “Untethered: Creating Connected Families, Schools and Communities to Raise a Resilient Generation.”

Please share information about this event with friends and relatives. All are welcome to the free weekly GPS events, and no registration is required.

In conversation with…

Bolton will be in conversation with Vanessa Kroll Bennett at 7 p.m. She is co-author of the best seller “This is So Awkward: Modern Puberty Explained.”