Joyful Courage for Parenting Teens cover image

Joyful Courage for Parenting Teens

Eps 555: High achieving middle schoolers with Julietta Skoog

Mar 10, 2025
52:59

My guest today is Julietta Skoog, my co-founder and the Early Years Lead here at Sproutable. We’re talking about perfectionism and pressure on high achieving middle schoolers. Julietta and I discuss high achieving kids and the connection between extracurriculars and academics. We compare overachieving and being an efficient student and how much pressure some middle schoolers are under. Julietta shares about growth mindset and the antidote for perfectionism. We wrap up chatting about our modeling and “living out loud.” 


Takeaways from the show

  • High achieving middle school students
  • We can’t always help our kids tune out distractions or pressure, but we can help our kids reframe 
  • Extracurriculars and academics 
  • Being an efficient student versus being an overachieving student 
  • The high pressure (and even burn out) on middle schoolers 
  • The fear of “what if I never figure it out?” 
  • Reconciling parental expectations with school expectations and what their own expectations are for themselves 
  • Studying for a test versus studying to learn & retain knowledge 
  • Things can still be hard and uncomfortable even when we’re using our Positive Discipline parenting tools and doing it “right” - sometimes we just have to sit with the discomfort and the challenge 
  • The importance of a growth mindset 
  • “The antidote for perfectionism is I love you no matter what”
  • When kids stop trying because of pressure from perfectionism 
  • Modeling and “living out loud”


For more show notes, including transcripts, visit our website here.

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