Never Enough: When Achievement Culture Becomes Toxic-and What We Can Do About It Hardcover – August 22, 2023

Jennifer Breheny Wallace's Never Enough: When Achievement Culture Becomes Toxic and What We Can Do About It is a compelling examination of the pressures faced by today’s students. Wallace highlights how toxic achievement culture can lead to anxiety and depression, emphasizing the critical need for children to feel valued beyond their accomplishments. Through insightful research and practical strategies, she guides parents and educators in fostering a supportive environment that prioritizes mental health over mere performance. This essential read is a wake-up call for anyone involved in raising or educating children, advocating for a healthier approach to achievement.

A call to action for modern parents to prioritize values over success. It’s common sense that is increasingly uncommon. Wallace is earnest, and her anecdotes are helpful in demonstrating what it means to matter. I couldn’t put it down — it was a delicious read

Eye-opening and at times a hard pilll to swallow but necessary. Every parent should read.

So many well-intentioned, loving parents in my orbit have teens and young adults who are struggling with mental health concerns despite (or maybe, as this book recounts, because of) being high achievers, rigorously building their high school resumes to get into a ‘good college.’ As the author indicates, this is a book that is largely about a privileged demographic, but maybe one that serves as a bellwether for our society. The fear of loss is real in a society that seems more stratified and more precarious with each passing year, and our adolescents are paying the price. The author unpacks the various forces that are pushing us, at times subconsciously, in this harmful direction and, thank goodness, offers some practical solutions for parents to help offload the pressure and stress being placed on their children. This is a useful, well-written, and deeply interesting book.

in today's fast-paced world, the concept of hustle and grind is so glorified that it's almost sacrosanct to say otherwise. However, when this idea seeps into our personal lives and spills over into parenting, then that becomes a problem. For many parents, wanting their children to have the best of everything is instinctual, but it has reached a point where parents are pressuring their kids to excel in everything, much to the detriment of the child's psyche, the parent-child relationship, and importantly, parents may be pushing their children to adolescent burnout without know it, all the while guilt-tripping their child into doing more, doing it faster, and doing it even better, when perhaps the child has already switch-off and tuned out. This book by Jennifer Breheny Wallace is such a godsend. The author goes into such detail to share so many anecdotes that in a way, it seems that she is telling the reader that, yes, it's real, and it's ok to do some self-reflection and realize that what matters the most, is to ensure your child knows that it is them that matters the most. Not their achievements and accolades, but them as a person. Sounds cliche, but it's so true. Bravo to Jennifer Breheny Wallace for this timely book. We can only hope more people read this book.

Fabulous and a must-read for all parents of children under 18! While I think most of us can deduce that raising our children in a college focused pressure cooker is not heathy or ideal for anyone involved, the prescription laid out in this book was truly eye-opening and will reframe how I think about parenting my girls going forward. If only I could rewind, there are many things I would want to do differently to ensure that my kids know that they matter and feel that they are living with a purpose that includes not only their success, but the success of their family, friends, and community. And none of that success needs to include acceptance to an Ivy League school!

I have a long daily commute, so I typically listen to books on Audible in the car. Never Enough is compelling and well-researched, but it's difficult to listen to this one because the narrator (the author) is a stilted reader; she often emphasizes the wrong word in a sentence. I found this so jarring that I wound up buying the hardcover edition, too. I recommend Never Enough but suggest the print version over Audible.

In this book Jennifer Breheny Wallace identifies a serious problem and proposes many interesting solutions such as reducing the flouting of high-school students’ successes in gaining college admissions and “prioritiz[ing] community mental health.” But during 62 years of working in education, mostly at the high school level, I’ve seen many “reform” efforts come and go while schools become more limited and rigid in their offerings and expectations while remaining unwilling or unable to support the strengths and interests of students that are not centered primarily on the schools’ narrow academic focus. I’m pessimistic about the future success of any efforts aimed at change.