Dr. David Walsh, one of the world’s leading authorities on parenting and the impact of media on children’s health and development, addressed parents and educators on October 28 at The Grosse Pointe Academy. The topic was “No: Why Kids of All Ages Need to Hear It and Ways Parents Can Say It.” Dr. Walsh was this year’s featured speaker in the Academy’s annual McMillan Lecture Series, which is a gift from Thayer and Gioconda McMillan given in memory of William Charles McMillan III in the interest of emphasizing the importance of elementary education.

The main theme of Dr. Walsh’s talk was self-discipline. According to Walsh, self discipline is a key character trait that leads to success in school and in life. Self-discipline helps kids stay on task, finish a task, stay focused, be engaged, take on a challenge, make better decisions and resist what Walsh called “the siren call of entitlement: ‘Gotta have it and gotta have it now!’” Parents who say “no” and use the parenting skills of No are re-discovering parenting strategies that work, said Walsh.

As an example, Dr. Walsh told what he referred to as the “Marshmallow Story.”

“Almost forty years ago, a group of scientists performed a very important experiment with children,” Dr. Walsh told the audience. “Parents brought three-and-four-year old boys and girls into a room one by one, where the scientist presented them with a choice. They could either eat a marshmallow that he gave them right away, or they could wait until he came back with a second marshmallow. Some of those little boys and girls gobbled up that marshmallow before the door was even closed; others did whatever they could to wait for that second marshmallow. The important thing about the experiment is that the scientists followed those children all the way through their growing-up years – through elementary school, the teenage years, into early adulthood. The conclusion of the experiment was that the ability to wait for that second marshmallow was an amazingly strong predictor of those children’s success and happiness through school and into early adulthood. That experiment was really a measure of a critical success factor: self-discipline.”

Dr. Walsh is the author of nine books, including the national best seller Why Do They Act That Way? A Survival Guide to the Adolescent Brain for You and Your Teen. His latest book, No: Why Kids – of All Ages – Need to Hear It and Ways Parents Can Say It, serves as the focal point of the Say Yes to No campaign, which teaches parents and educators how to instill self-discipline in America’s children.

Dr. Walsh has authored columns on numerous topics, including Internet addition and the dangers of MySpace.com. A frequent guest on national radio and television, he has appeared on NBC’s Today Show, Good Morning America, The CBS Early Show, The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, Dateline NBC, ABC’s 20/20, and National Public Radio’s All Things Considered and Morning Edition. He has received numerous awards, including the Council on Family Relation’s Friend of the Family Award.