Bayview Glen Parent Book Club
Facilitated by the Director of Student Wellbeing, Antoinette Morgan, MA, MSW, BSW, RSW.
We aim to have three meetings for the book club this school year. We invite parents, caregivers, and supporters to attend. You can read the book in its entirety or read what you can or come even if you did not read it. Please come and join us for a spirited discussion about the topic.
2025–2026 School Year Book Selection
Fall Book Club:
Never Enough: When Achievement Culture Becomes Toxic—and What We Can Do About It
by Jennifer Breheny Wallace
Winter Book Club:
The Crucial Years: The Essential Guide to Mental Health and Modern Puberty in Middle Childhood (Ages 6-12)
by Dr. Sheryl Gonzalez Ziegler
Spring Book Club:
The Emotional Lives of Teenagers: Raising Connected, Capable, and Compassionate Adolescents
by Lisa Damour, PhD.
Winter Book Club and Fireside Chat
The Crucial Years: The Essential Guide to Mental Health and Modern Puberty in Middle Childhood (Ages 6-12) by Dr. Sheryl Gonzalez Ziegler
An essential guide for parents and caregivers, this book offers insights, strategies, and understanding to navigate middle childhood (ages 6–12). Dr. Sheryl Ziegler, a seasoned clinical psychologist and mother, highlights ways to foster resilience, encourage open communication, and build lasting connections during this crucial period.
There is a pivotal sea change happening in children’s development. The age of puberty has been trending earlier for decades, and now starts as young as 8 years old in girls and 9 in boys. Bullying doesn’t just happen on the playground, but over text and DM. Depression and anxiety are drastically on the rise. Couple earlier puberty with ill-equipped, developing brains and the onslaught of new media and stressors that never existed when we were kids, and it’s clear that parents need a new guide to raise this new generation.
The Crucial Years is your essential handbook to navigating the often misunderstood and overlooked years of middle childhood (ages 6–12). As a mom and clinical psychologist, Dr. Sheryl Ziegler knows firsthand how challenging these years can be—yet she also recognizes that this is a tender age and pivotal opportunity to connect with your child before adolescence. Dr. Ziegler masterfully unlocks the enigma surrounding modern puberty and offers evidence-based strategies, interventions, and answers to middle childhood’s most perplexing questions and concerns. In these pages, she provides:
- Science-based advice to recognize the first signs of puberty and navigate the changes to come.
- Candid and actionable guidance for getting your kids to talk about anxiety, depression, and their complicated feelings.
- Insight into the changing world of gender and sexual identity, and how to guide your child through this complicated new landscape.
- A thoughtful and sensitive discussion of how race intersects with puberty and mental health, and how all parents can approach this mindfully and inclusively.
- A clear explanation of the invisible threads linking mood swings, self-image, and social media exposure.
- Road-tested, real-world guidance to handle bullies, mean girls, and other friendship and social challenges.
With The Crucial Years, you have all that you need to guide your child through the hazards and thrills of puberty and help them emerge as well-rounded, confident young adults.
Dr. Andrew Wong is a clinical, school and rehabilitation psychologist with 15 years of experience and is registered with the College of Psychologists and Behaviour Analysts of Ontario. He works with children, youth and adults providing therapy and assessments.
While Dr. Wong provides a compassionate and gentle approach to therapy with adults, he can be playful and creative when working with children and teenagers in order to promote a strong therapeutic connection. Dr. Wong is also specialized in working with neurodiverse populations including individuals with autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disability, and other developmental disorders.
Dr. Wong was a supervising psychologist at the York Catholic District School Board for eight years and was most recently the Clinical Director at the Neurologic Rehabilitation Institute of Ontario (Bayshore Residential Rehab). Beyond seeing his clients in private practice, he also manages the practice, consults with the renowned Community Head Injury Resource Services (CHIRS) in Toronto, and currently serves on the Board of Directors at the Brain Injury Society of Toronto (BIST). He also co-hosts the popular mental health podcast, Taking Good Care, which is on all major streaming platforms.
Fireside Chat Topic
How Brains are Wired Differently: What is Executive Functioning and Why it is Critical in Child Development
Executive functioning (EF) and self-regulation (SR) help us manage, organize, and prioritize our behaviours. These brain functions develop throughout childhood and adolescence until young adulthood. This presentation will inform caregivers the importance of supporting the development of executive functioning, which includes strategies in time management, proper scheduling of activities, and screen time management. In addition, it is important to foster daily critical thinking and problem-solving skills in multiple environments.
Fall Book Club and Fireside Chat
Never Enough: When Achievement Culture Becomes Toxic—and What We Can Do About It by Jennifer Breheny Wallace
This book presents the findings of a survey of nearly 6,000 parents and explores how the pressure to succeed is ingrained in family, school, and society. Breheny Wallace contends this growing pressure on children to excel in high achievement/affluent environments, such as independent schools, and the subsequent impact on their mental health (such as anxiety, depression, and self-harm). The book delves into how a shift in society, school culture, and parenting can foster better wellbeing. Breheny Wallace introduces the concept of mattering- to help children feel they matter/ are valued for who they are, not just for what they do, and how that relates to their purpose, identity, and wellbeing.
Jennifer Breheny Wallace is a former television journalist, former producer of CBS’s 60 Minutes, author, and does national television appearances. She is a Special Wellbeing Advisor to University Health & Counseling at the University of Michigan. She’s a Fellow at The Center for Parent & Teen Communication at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Also, she serves on the Advisory Board for Making Caring Common, a Harvard Graduate School of Education project.
Andrea Warnick, MA, RN, RP Education Director, Co-Owner and CEO AWC Grief Support
Andrea co-leads AWC Grief Support, a group practice of over 30 therapists who provide grief therapy across Ontario and grief consultation and education across Canada. She is a registered psychotherapist and registered nurse whose passion lies in helping individuals, families and communities support people of all ages who are grieving an illness or death in their lives. With years of nursing and counselling experience both in Canada and abroad and a master’s degree in thanatology, Andrea brings to her work a rare mixture of medical and psychosocial expertise. Andrea developed and teaches a certificate program in children’s grief and bereavement at SickKids Centre for Community Mental Health. She was also the lead content developer for KidsGrief.ca and KidsGrief for Educators