When I talk about raising successful children according to “experts”, I put “experts” in quotations because I’m always a little suspicious of power and authority (not in the crazy conspiracy theory kind of way, though). I prefer to cast my lot with the commoners, the proletariat, the powerless and voiceless, etc. But as much as I am suspicious of authority, I’m even more averse to willful ignorance; I always like to survey what the “experts” have to say before I come to my own conclusions.
Also, to be honest, while it is a really complicated and personal topic, research about raising kids probably isn’t as fraught with corporate, political, and professional interests as much as, say, tax policy research might be. So it’s seems pretty safe to believe most of what these guys and gals have to say.
Well, you must be impatiently wondering, “who are these damn experts already?” I’ll tell you. In this post I’m going to summarize three different books about kids:
- NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children by Po Bronson & Ashley Merryman
- How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character by Paul Tough
- The Anthropology of Childhood: Cherubs, Chattel, Changelings by David Lancy
After that I might reference a few other articles and then I’ll close and try to find some common threads. Ok, let’s go.
Read moreRaising successful children: advice from the “experts”
