Over the past thirty-five years I have worked with young people in many different settings. I have worked with teenage patients at psychiatric hospitals and with delinquent teenagers who were being brought to court. I have also seen teenagers who came with their families to child guidance clinics or to my private practice. And, with colleagues, I have conducted research with students who were attending junior and senior high school. That research often involved interviewing large numbers of young people. I have reported my observations and concerns about teenagers in articles, book chapters, and books for professionals and for parents. I know, and care, about young people.

Since the publication of The Hurried Child, I have had a very different kind of interaction with teenagers, with their parents and teachers, and with professionals in many different fields who provide for their health needs. I had many requests to speak, from all parts of the United States and Canada. I have now traveled to every state in the Union and to all the Canadian provinces. Everywhere I go, I make it my practice not only to speak but also to listen.

What I have heard, and what I am still hearing, gave me the impetus for writing this book. Not only are children still being hurried, but the phenomenon is becoming more common and accepted. Mothers-to-be are deluged with literature assuring them that if they use the right materials . . .