Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys

Dr. Michael Thompson, world-renowned author, psychologist and speaker, is coming to Hamilton Wenham to present a lecture entitled, “Deepening our Understanding of the Healthy Development of Boys.” Parents, educators, and community members are invited to attend this free event on Tuesday, May 17th, 7 p.m. at the Ferrini Auditorium at the Hamilton Wenham High School. Admission to the event is free, thanks to sponsorship by the Hamilton Wenham Edfund.

This 90-minute lecture includes a Q&A with Thompson and is intended for parents of students at all grade levels, educators, administrators, teens and others who want to better understand protecting the emotional life of boys.

Parents of boys often find themselves bewildered or frustrated by certain aspects of boy development: their little-boy anger, their inattentiveness in elementary school, their lack of motivation in middle school or their reluctance to talk to their parents during the high school years. In this funny and reassuring talk, Dr. Thompson addresses the greatest worries that parents of boys have from infancy through high school, distinguishing between what is normal boy development and those behaviors that are worrisome.

Michael Thompson, Ph.D., is a consultant, author, and psychologist specializing in children and families. He is the supervising psychologist for Belmont Hill School and has worked in more than 500 schools across the United States, as well as in international schools in Central America, Europe, Africa, and Asia.

He and co-author Dan Kindlon wrote the New York Times best-selling book Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys. He is also the author of Speaking of Boys: Answers to the Most-Asked Questions About Raising Sons and, along with Catherine O'Neill Grace and Larry Cohen, Ph.D., is co-author of Mom, They're Teasing Me: Helping Your Child Solve Social Problems and Best Friends/Worst Enemies: Understanding the Social Worlds of Children, about which Publishers Weekly declared, "Not since Dr. Spock and Penelope Leach has there been such a sensitive and practical guide to raising healthy children." Along with Teresa Barker, Thompson wrote The Pressured Child: Helping Your Child Achieve Success in School and in Life to help parents understand children's complex journey through school, from kindergarten through senior year. His third book on the psychology of boys, titled It's a Boy!: Understanding Your Son's Development from Birth to Eighteen, was published in 2008. It focuses on the importance of undirected, free play in the lives of boys. He is currently writing a new book about summer camps and school trips titled Homesick and Happy: How Children Change and Grow When They Are Away from Their Parents.

A dedicated speaker and traveler, Michael Thompson has appeared on The Today Show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, ABC's 20/20, CBS's 60 Minutes, The Early Show, and Good Morning America. He has been quoted in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Newsweek, Time, and US News and World Report and has been a guest on NPR's "Morning Edition" with Susan Stamberg, "Talk of the Nation" with Ray Suarez, and "The Diane Rehm Show." He wrote, narrated, and hosted a two-hour PBS documentary titled Raising Cain that was broadcast nationally in 2006.