The Orchid and the Dandelion: Why Sensitive People Struggle and How All Can Thrive

Review

This is a necessary and important book. -- Philippa Perry, Guardian

Groundbreaking research that has the power to change the lives of countless children?and the adults who love them. -- Susan Cain, New York Times bestselling author of Quiet

This is the first parenting book I've read in a while that is based on common sense and science. It made me step back and look at each of my four children through different eyes. It is a powerful, groundbreaking read. And if you do have an orchid, it will help you parent them through even the hardest of times. -- Lorraine Candy, Sunday Times Magazine

A book for parents bewildered by their impossibly spirited children, for teachers interested in understanding the range of children in their care, for psychologists wanting insights into individual differences, and for students of the human condition everywhere. . . The Orchid and the Dandelion absorbed me like a novel. -- Psychology Today

A skilled pediatrician, a gifted scientist, and a lucid writer. He has a deep understanding of the “orchid child” and its underlying biology, and he has a compelling story to tell. There is an extensive audience of parents and teachers whose lives will be touched by this book. The well-being of their children and their students will reap enormous benefits from what Tom Boyce can teach us all about the valleys and the mountaintops of child development -- Jack P. Shonkoff M.D., Director, Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University; Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital

It’s a must read for all parents, teachers, and psychologists! -- John M. Gottmann, Ph.D., New York Times bestselling author of Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child

A true gift to parents and teachers globally -- Elissa S. Epel, Ph.D., Department of Psychiatry, UCSF

About the Author

Tom Boyce, MD, is professor of Pediatrics and Psychiatry and heads the Division of Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco. He is also co-director of the Child and Brain Development Program of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research and a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. Dr Boyce’s research addresses the interplay among neurobiological and psychosocial factors leading to differences in childhood health and disease, leading to his book The Orchid and the Dandelion. He frequently gives talks on his groundbreaking work. He is the parent of two wonderful adult children, one orchid and one dandelion. He is also an avid sailor who likes to tie sailing knots and untie scientific ones.

Philippa Perry is a psychotherapist who, in an attempt to demystify psychotherapy, wrote the graphic novel, Couch Fiction (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010). She has written for The Guardian, the Observer, Time Out and Healthy Living magazine and has a regular column in Psychologies magazine. She lives in London and Sussex with her husband, the artist Grayson Perry and enjoys gardening, cooking, parties, walking, tweeting (@philippa_perry) and watching telly.