Kids these days -- amirite? 

​No, but actually. For real. Kids these days are more sensitive and fragile than kids of the past. Even according to the president of an elite university that I spoke with recently, “Today’s college students are not like you.”

I had no interest in watching a show about teen suicide. But after seeing so many articles praising the Netflix original, 13 Reasons Why, I decided to check it out. I mean, supposedly it was one of the best teen dramas of all time. 

The show was kind of boring and not that good. But it had its moments, and I was able to find some value in it. Including the controversial rape scene, which critics say was too graphic and emotional and explicit. 

I had the opposite reaction. This was exactly the rape scene that teen and preteen girls need to see.

Video games are addictive -- literally. Kids have died, gotten obese, or contracted scurvy from this addiction. Others spend enough time at their console before the start of high school... that they basically could have completed several college degrees, had they spent that time reading, learning and discussing.

So why don't they?

Because, although many teachers are great educators... they just don't understand motivation the way video game companies do.

Fun fact: the other day, some crazy lady on the internet went haywire (or should I say... sleigh-wire?) at me because of a Facebook comment... about Santa. It wasn't the kind of "holiday cheer" I normally feel this time of year... but it did make me chuckle. 

​It also made me think -- should parents tell their kids about Santa? And as a psychologist, I'm pretty sure the answer is yes. Here's why:

Novels are great! They stir the soul. They share emotional journeys we can all relate to. It's great to read novels – which is probably why Stanford provides a list of three books -- usually novels -- for its incoming freshmen to read each summer.

My freshman year, the Three Books were M Butterfly, Annie John, and Old School, which was actually pretty spectacular -- especially since I'd just graduated from a New England boarding school.

But let's be honest. Did any of these books change my life? Prepare me for college? Change the way I think? Improve my cognitive skills?

No. But this one will:

A venture capitalist I respect... err, respect enough... recently said that he very pointedly never compliments his daughter on her looks. Because sexism, feminism, bla bla bla. 

He invests wisely, so I guess I should care what he has to say. But honestly, I think he's wrong on this. Sadly, other "experts" (which, all too often, means "people on the internet with an opinion") have echoed the sentiment -- and it's time to set the record straight.

In the age of technology, cheating in academia has become rampant. It's never been easier to plagiarize assignments or get outside help on an exam.

In my most recent Paved With Verbs blog post, I tackled a question a lot of high school students wonder about community service: 

"How do volunteer work and service-related clubs look on applications? Do they, too, strike admissions officers as a sign of a complacent student whose main goal is to look good? What kind of specialized service opportunities TRULY give kids an edge in college and beyond?"

When I was in kindergarten, they tried to send me away to a school for dumb kids. But by the time I got to third grade, they were trying to bump me up a year and recommending me to Talented and Gifted summer programs. A psychologist from a nearby university determined, after a battery of cognitive tests, that I was a very abstract thinker. 

Which is why I was intrigued when a certain Quora user asked, "At what age do gifted children know they're different?" 

Regina Harrell, 9, was removed from her home after her "negligent" mother let her play in a park unsupervised.
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Last Sunday, the New York Times published a gut-wrenching article, The Families That Can't Afford Summer. The piece raised some important issues about the affordability of childcare and summer camps for low-income families, and the total major burden summer vacation imposes on them.