Best Friends/Worst Enemies: Friendship Development, Popularity and Social Cruelty
Michael G. Thompson, PhD

May 3, 2010, 9:00 am–2:00 pm
Nashoba Valley Technical High School
$50 for members; $150 for non-members; $150 for a member district to bring up to 10 people (Each Superintendent will receive a group registration form. Please follow-up with your administration to register as a group of 10. Use the regular registration methods for individual registrations.) CLICK-HERE for the group registration form and please e-mail the form to meredith.lerner@state.ma.us.

The 12th annual SECURE Conference will feature cutting edge information relating to school and community safety. School staff are witnesses to the exclusion of low status children in elementary schools and the popularity wars of both the middle school and high school. Social cruelty among kids is one of the most difficult factors that school professionals and law enforcement have to confront when interfacing with youth. This presentation gives the participants a glimpse into the complex social world of childhood and adolescence. Dr. Thompson will draw on research to highlight the differences between friendship and popularity. He makes suggestions about the management of social problems in schools/communities and makes the case that while all children yearn for popularity, it is friendship that helps students to survive and thrive.

Michael G. Thompson is a psychologist, school consultant, author and co-author of eight books, including the New York Times bestseller, Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys, Speaking of Boys: Answers to the Most-Asked Questions about Raising Sons and Best Friends, Worst Enemies: Understanding the Social Lives of Children. His newest book, It’s a Boy!: Understanding Your Son’s Development from Birth to Eighteen was published by Ballantine Books in 2008. A dedicated speaker and traveler, Dr. Thompson has spoken at or consulted to more than 500 schools in the United States and abroad. He has appeared on the Today Show, the Oprah Winfrey Show, ABC 20/20 and CBS 60 Minutes and was the co-author, host and narrator of a two-hour PBS documentary entitled “Raising Cain: Focus on Boys” which aired in January of 2006.