Relationships/CommunicationSkill BuildingWellbeing/Mental HealthCollege/Career

Susan Dominus with Dr. Lisa Damour

How Parents Can Support Students to Aim High, Dream Big and Succeed

Noon CST 7 p.m. CST

12:00 pm CST 7:00 pm CST

When

Tue, Aug 26, 2025 @ Noon and 7pm CT

Where

Virtual Event

Program Takeaways:

Family systems—not just parents—shape success: Sibling relationships, mutual influence, and shared ambition play crucial roles in student motivation and long-term achievement.

Joy without pressure: The most effective parents model enthusiasm and curiosity without tying their self-worth to their child’s performance.

Support, don’t steer: Over-involvement and micromanagement can sap kids’ motivation and create anxiety; instead, parents should be encouraging spectators, not directors.

Luck matters: Recognizing the role of chance in success helps keep expectations realistic and can comfort families when outcomes don’t go as planned.

Shift the focus to character: Encouraging conscientiousness, integrity, and effort matters more than achievements alone—especially for long-term well-being.

In this compelling conversation, Dominus and Damour will delve into the questions that shape every parent’s hopes: Why do some siblings thrive while others struggle? What fuels ambition and resilience in children? Drawing from Dominus’s new book The Family Dynamic: A Journey into the Mystery of Sibling Success, the session will explore the subtle forces—within families and beyond—that influence motivation, drive, and emotional well-being.

This session offers practical, research-informed reflections that challenge easy answers and encourage deeper thinking about what it means to support children in today’s high-pressure world. Parents will walk away with insights into how to nurture their children’s potential, understand the emotional undercurrents of sibling dynamics, and create a home environment that supports both achievement and healthy relationships.

Susan Dominus has been a journalist with The New York Times since 2007, contributing as a Metro columnist and later as a staff writer for The New York Times Magazine. A National Magazine Award winner in 2024 for her widely discussed piece on menopause, Dominus has also been a fellow at both the National Institutes of Health and Yale Law School. She currently teaches journalism at Yale University. Her latest book, The Family Dynamic, is a powerful and thought-provoking look at sibling success, family life, and ambition.

In conversation with…

Dominus will be in conversation at noon with Dr. Lisa Damour, bestselling author of three books: “The Emotional Lives of Teenagers,” “Untangled” and “Under Pressure.” She works in collaboration with UNICEF and is a regular contributor to The New York Times and CBS News.