Hey, it's Ampair's book The Day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. Today on the pod, we're talking about

success. What does it mean to you? How or when can you achieve it? What does it cost? In a bit,

we're looking at a book that explores late bloomers, folks who didn't pop off until they were a bit older.

Of course, older is relative, which is sort of the point.

But first, I grew up in a type of house where an A-minus wasn't good enough and a B was a failure.

And I thought that was rough, but Jennifer Wallace's book, Never Enough, talks about teens under an

even more intense amounts of pressure to do better. And it comes with some serious mental health consequences.

She talked to here and now as Deepa Fernandez as the school year was ending for many kids

about her reporting and what these kids wish they could tell their parents.

That's ahead.

In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.

Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors on our new show, Sources and Methods.

NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people, helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.

Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.

We're firmly in the middle of high school finals time. It can be an incredibly stressful

period for students and for their parents too. Questions swirl in many heads. How hard

should I push them? What can I do to help? Should I help? If we aren't

careful, we can tip the scales quickly and dangerously towards too much pressure on our kids as we push

them to do more and more. Journalist Jennifer Wallace calls this the toxic achievement culture

and wrote about it in her book, Never Enough. She joins me now.

Jenny, welcome. Oh, thanks for having me. Let's start with a definition here. What is toxic achievement?

Yes, achievement can become toxic when it is so tangled up in our sense of self that we only feel worthy and

...