parenting book club

Let’s read, chat, and grow our parenting skills together! This low-pressure Parenting Book Club is both informative and fun. There will be opportunities to participate in group discussions along the way.

Sign up below to join the current session and you’ll receive an email with more details.

• Free book
• Easy to participate
• Suggested reading schedule
• 3 scheduled meetups per session
• Group discussions, including participation from students

Let’s take a closer look at what’s happened to youth sports, and how we as parents can help our kids find joy, resilience, and balance in play again.

From September to November, we’re reading Take Back the Game: How Money and Mania Are Ruining Kids’ Sports—and Why It Matters by Linda Flanagan.

Youth sports have changed dramatically — earlier specialization, year-round travel teams, and mounting pressure to perform have reshaped what used to be simple, joyful play. In Take Back the Game, journalist and former coach Linda Flanagan examines how this shift is affecting kids’ mental health, family life, and love of the game itself. Together, we’ll explore what’s driving the intensity, what the research says about its costs, and how parents and coaches can help kids build confidence, connection, and a healthy relationship with sports — on and off the field.

Come for the book, stay for the community of parents asking the same questions you are.

Grab your copy, mark your calendar, and join us for one, two, or all three sessions—every conversation stands on its own, and every parent is welcome, whether or not you’re reading the book.

Meetup #1: How our schools are navigating competition, pressure, and student well-being

September 24 at Family Resource Center (FRC)
9:00 – 10:30 a.m.
Coffee and snacks provided.

Reading Goal
Part 1: Chapters 1-3

Kick things off by hearing directly from the people shaping our kids’ sports experience at LBUSD. Chris Esperanza, LBUSD Athletic Administrator; Dr. Jason Allemann, LBHS Principal; and Dr. Michael Keller, Director of Social Emotional Support, share how they’re thinking about competition, pressure, and wellbeing at the school level—and where they see room to do better.

Meetup #2: Straight from the Source — A Fishbowl with Student Athletes
October 19 at LBHS Library
6:00 – 7:30 p.m.

Reading Goal
Part II: Chapters 4-9

We’re handing the mic to secondary students to hear directly what youth sports feel like from the inside. Come listen, come learn, and come ready to see the game through their eyes.

Meetup #3: Where do we go from here?
November 17 at TBD location
6:00 – 8:00 p.m.

Reading Goal
Part III: Chapters 10-12

We close out the series by turning insight into action. What can we, as parents, coaches, and a community, actually change? Bring your ideas—this is where we start building a healthier path forward for our kids.

Let’s take a closer look at the pressure our kids feel to constantly achieve, and how we as parents can help them feel valued for who they are — not just what they accomplish.

From December to April, we’re reading Never Enough: When Achievement Culture Becomes Toxic—and What We Can Do About It by Jennifer Breheny Wallace.

In Never Enough, award-winning journalist Wallace investigates the rise of “toxic achievement culture” — the relentless push toward AP classes, resume-building activities, and nonstop striving that’s driving skyrocketing rates of anxiety, depression, and burnout among today’s kids. Drawing on years of research and interviews with families, educators, and psychologists, Wallace introduces “mattering” — the sense of being valued and adding value to others — as a powerful, research-backed antidote. Together, we’ll explore how to help our kids strive toward excellence without losing themselves in the process, and how to build a stronger sense of belonging at home, at school, and in our community.

Registration begins in November.

Meetup #1
February 9 at Family Resource Center (FRC)
9:00 – 10:30 a.m.
Coffee and snacks provided.

Reading Goal: Chapters 1-4

LBUSD Speaker Event with Jennifer Wallace
Date to be announced.

Meetup #2: Fishbowl with secondary students to discuss building “mattering” into family and school life
April 19 at TBD location
6:00 – 8:00 p.m.

Reading Goal: Chapters 5-8