It was Paul Tough’s NYT-bestselling HOW CHILDREN SUCCEED that first introduced listeners to the research that shows that character strengths like grit, perseverance, self-control, and optimism play a critical and often overlooked role in children’s success. After that book came out, Tough spent months on the road, and after each talk, as he writes in his new book, he would often get the same question: “O.K., now that we know this, what do we do?” Tough spent the last year and a half trying to answer that question, and the result is HELPING CHILDREN SUCCEED. His conclusion: We should stop trying to “teach” qualities like grit and self-control to our kids. Instead, he argues, we need to recognize that these capacities are the product of children’s environment, in the home and in school. If we want to make kids more motivated, engaged, and productive in the classroom, we have to find innovative ways to change those environments. Please join host Stephen Spitz and author Paul Tough as they discuss helping children succeed. Produced with assistance of Jefferson White and Lynn Schibeci.