Parental pressure can create learning difficulties, says child neurologist

According to child neurologist Sanna-Leena Vanhanen, children of highly educated parents are most likely to be subjected to excessive and self-defeating pressure to do well at school.

UNREASONABLY high expectations that parents place on their children to do well at school may be self-defeating and can even harm children, according to child neurologist Sanna-Leena Vanhanen.

In many cases, what are thought to be learning difficulties are actually part of a person’s own learning characteristics.

Children of highly educated parents are most at risk of high expectations, Vanhanen explains, and these children are often among those who do least well in their studies. “These parents tend to put a lot of pressure on their children, because high academic achievement is a family tradition. The outcome can be stifling for the children, however.”