Do Parents Matter? Why Japanese Babies Sleep Soundly, Mexican Siblings Don't Fight, and American Families Should Just Relax
Robert A. LeVine and Sarah LeVine
ISBN: 9781610397230
Read September 17, 2016
An interesting cross-cultural study of various parenting practices and the outcomes observed, but flawed and limited in a lot of ways. Really makes one wish that there were larger groups studying this sort of thing in earnest - I think there would be a great deal of knowledge acquired that way, but it might not be particularly flattering to the current medical/psychological concepts, so there's understandably little push for it.
The authors use personal anthropological/sociological observations and those collected by other groups to make comments about various parenting tactics and supposedly basic concepts, inferring from their observations that there is very little universal about how children are nurtured and raised, and that despite that vast gulf of differences, mainly the adults end up as well-adjusted adults in their respective societies.
I would have liked more citations or deeper explanations, as a lot of things are hand-waved or offhandedly explained without backing: I want to be clear that I don't think they're faking any of their information, or purposefully being misleading, I just wanted to have a clearer understanding of what they're basing that on (which would have made this a much thicker and more scholarly book, so I can completely understand why they chose not to).
Overall interesting, but it raises a lot more questions than it answers.
Showing posts with label child development. Show all posts
Showing posts with label child development. Show all posts
Thursday, September 22, 2016
Wednesday, May 11, 2016
Nonfiction: Grit, by Angela Duckworth
Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance
Angela Duckworth
ISBN: 9781501111105
Half cheerleading coach and half business mentor; Duckworth explains what "grit" really is.
Interesting, but a little depressing. "Gritty" people are those who thrive on challenge, who have found what they love doing and found ways to continue to excel at doing it. Grit is also based on both heritage and nurture: you've got to teach kids to be gritty - to teach them that they're succeeding because they're TRYING, not because they're smart/natural/gifted/genius. Unfortunately, that means that those of us who were taught other things (or even worse, taught by tragedy that nothing we do matters in the face of an uncaring universe) are pretty much SoL - unless you can find a way to persuade your insurance company to cover cognitive-behavior therapy techniques to teach you to change your ingrained thought patterns.
The book is supposed to be encouraging and positive and inspirational, with lots of places to take little checklists and to compare yourself with gritty individuals and their accomplishments - but for someone who DOES suffer from depression and anxiety, her only advice is therapy (which she does kindly admit is profoundly disappointing and not particularly helpful, so at least she realizes it.) I enjoyed reading it anyway, and perhaps someday when this country (or our health system) prioritizes mental health, those of us who faced setbacks on our childhood road to grit can forge a way to become stronger and more happy too.
Angela Duckworth
ISBN: 9781501111105
Half cheerleading coach and half business mentor; Duckworth explains what "grit" really is.
Interesting, but a little depressing. "Gritty" people are those who thrive on challenge, who have found what they love doing and found ways to continue to excel at doing it. Grit is also based on both heritage and nurture: you've got to teach kids to be gritty - to teach them that they're succeeding because they're TRYING, not because they're smart/natural/gifted/genius. Unfortunately, that means that those of us who were taught other things (or even worse, taught by tragedy that nothing we do matters in the face of an uncaring universe) are pretty much SoL - unless you can find a way to persuade your insurance company to cover cognitive-behavior therapy techniques to teach you to change your ingrained thought patterns.
The book is supposed to be encouraging and positive and inspirational, with lots of places to take little checklists and to compare yourself with gritty individuals and their accomplishments - but for someone who DOES suffer from depression and anxiety, her only advice is therapy (which she does kindly admit is profoundly disappointing and not particularly helpful, so at least she realizes it.) I enjoyed reading it anyway, and perhaps someday when this country (or our health system) prioritizes mental health, those of us who faced setbacks on our childhood road to grit can forge a way to become stronger and more happy too.
Friday, March 11, 2016
Nonfiction: The Importance of Being Little, Erika Christakis
The Importance of Being Little: What Preschoolers Really Need from Grownups
Erika Christakis
ISBN: 9780525429074
Read March 5, 2016
Discusses the hodge-podge nature of preschool and kindergarten education, and what we are discovering about effective learning environments based on longitudinal studies, other countries, developmental psychology research, and hands-on experimentation.
Erika Christakis
ISBN: 9780525429074
Read March 5, 2016
Discusses the hodge-podge nature of preschool and kindergarten education, and what we are discovering about effective learning environments based on longitudinal studies, other countries, developmental psychology research, and hands-on experimentation.
Monday, February 22, 2016
Continuing Education: Reading Picture Books with Children, Megan Dowd Lambert
Reading Picture Books with Children
Megan Dowd Lambert
ISBN: 9781580896627
Nonfiction: a book explaining and extolling the "Whole Book Approach" to presenting picture books.
Lambert assumes the reader is already an experienced teacher, parent, or storytime-giver, and doesn't waste any time rehashing the traditional method of storytime: kids sit quietly, reader reads to emphasize story and narrative (and characters if they're talented/brave enough to do voices), pictures are shown around perfunctorily, the books are finished, the kids stay mostly quiet.
In the Whole Book Approach (a method Lambert developed while working with the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art) the narrative is relegated to simply another facet of the whole picture book as a purposefully created entity using multiple disciplines and arts to present a concept and narrative. Here, equal or more focus is given to describing and questioning the art, the book design decisions, and even to choices in typography and page borders. Even more scandalous, this is a discussion-based approach, so not only are the kids supposed to talk, the "storyteller" is actually supposed to interrupt the story on each page and ASK them for their thoughts on what's going on with the art, design, typesetting, and whatever (directed questions, of course). What heresy!
She's really gung-ho about it, and her enthusiasm is infectious, but I do have a few qualms.
Point one: I work with toddlers. No amount of directed questions will forstall the flood of "I have a dog and a mommy and a bedroom and it was my birthday and my gramma is a princess..." stream of consciousness that 4 year olds do so well when presented with any sort of official adult attention. So this is already limited to older kids who can actually process and respond to prompts, and to take at least a little bit of time thinking about what they're seeing before chattering away. She talks about kindergarten groups, but even then I wonder if I could lead them well enough for the process to be coherent.
Point two: If you really dedicate to this, the narrative is going to get shafted, and I do not like that. I LOVE that she wants to focus on the art and design, and to bring attention to what are very much informed and purposeful choices, and to bring kids consciously into an awareness of motifs and memes and conventions that we follow in our culture to signal specific ideas or concepts or moods. All of that is really really great, and SHOULD be taught to kids - BUUUUT... it bothers me that the method to achieve this will totally wreck the flow of a good story. Grrr. I am coming at this from a performative and theatrical background, and really truly this bugs me quite a lot. My personal opinion is that this sort of work should be done with books that the reader and audience already knows extremely well. That way the first encounter with a story is always smooth and presents the story, and does justice to the narrative and pictures being a natural and cohesive unified experience (which is what I THINK most picture book authors and artists want anyway - for the work to just meld seamlessly into this delightful experience that kids love, even if they can't specify why they love it). So, book first as narrative, THEN you go can back in with the post-season analysis and really dig into the why and how and wherefore, with as much discussion and digression and not-ever-finishing-the-actual-book as you like.
Point three: Some people like being all meta about their pleasure activities, and (here's the point where I think Lambert is being a bit more universal than she ought) some people really really don't. And I think those preferences that we have as adults are present as kids. Everyone knows the trope of the annoying TV-watching friend who constantly wants to talk talk talk and overanalyze and overthink every little part of Walking Dead or Game of Thrones - and it's not a positive representation. I hate to think that an overenthusiastic Whole Book Approach during a storytime would turn a kid off of reading because they now associate pleasure reading with that piecemeal and reductive meta-critical approach, and it's not a requirement - simply another way to appreciate and enjoy this particular type of book. And I say this as someone who actually already likes to analyze and critique books and artworks - I just realize that not everyone shares that particular impulse. Not everyone is a book reviewer, and not everyone should be. Not everyone wants to think about critical art theory while they relax, and they shouldn't feel like they have to. And there is the other massive downside here - there's the presenter's opinions on this analytical approach to consider as well. This book is likely to cause a small, quiet revolution in at least some places, and I really feel sorry for any librarians and educators who are forced into this method by decree rather than inclination, or any parents doing this out of a sense of obligation towards their child's development. I feel even MORE sorry for the kids they're presenting to. As much harm could come from an individual kid being not interested in the process, infinitely more harm can come to entire classrooms or groups from a slack or grudging approach by an adult forced into presenting this Approach by a boss or by guilt. I strongly believe that you should only read books that you at least LIKE, because kids are perceptive, and for every book I personally don't like enough to tell (SkippyJon Jones, I'm looking at you) there's other people who LOVE it and can do it justice and be enthusiastic. Please please don't make presenters use a storytime format that they don't intrinsically believe to be valuable or worthwhile - it's just going to backfire.
That was an awful lot of criticism, but those three basic points are really my main hesitations. Lambert presents her points clearly and with beautifully-selected picture-book examples, and explains her reasoning and her methodology rationally. I do support her goals, and I think that her method is fundamentally sound. I don't have any desire to see this format replace or supersede "traditional" storytimes, and despite her enthusiastic proposal of this method, I don't think she really does either. There's a time and a place for reading for uninhibited pleasure and for enjoyable critical analysis, and a perfect program would incorporate both, given by adults passionate about books and reading and children's developing minds.
Megan Dowd Lambert
ISBN: 9781580896627
Nonfiction: a book explaining and extolling the "Whole Book Approach" to presenting picture books.
Lambert assumes the reader is already an experienced teacher, parent, or storytime-giver, and doesn't waste any time rehashing the traditional method of storytime: kids sit quietly, reader reads to emphasize story and narrative (and characters if they're talented/brave enough to do voices), pictures are shown around perfunctorily, the books are finished, the kids stay mostly quiet.
In the Whole Book Approach (a method Lambert developed while working with the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art) the narrative is relegated to simply another facet of the whole picture book as a purposefully created entity using multiple disciplines and arts to present a concept and narrative. Here, equal or more focus is given to describing and questioning the art, the book design decisions, and even to choices in typography and page borders. Even more scandalous, this is a discussion-based approach, so not only are the kids supposed to talk, the "storyteller" is actually supposed to interrupt the story on each page and ASK them for their thoughts on what's going on with the art, design, typesetting, and whatever (directed questions, of course). What heresy!
She's really gung-ho about it, and her enthusiasm is infectious, but I do have a few qualms.
Point one: I work with toddlers. No amount of directed questions will forstall the flood of "I have a dog and a mommy and a bedroom and it was my birthday and my gramma is a princess..." stream of consciousness that 4 year olds do so well when presented with any sort of official adult attention. So this is already limited to older kids who can actually process and respond to prompts, and to take at least a little bit of time thinking about what they're seeing before chattering away. She talks about kindergarten groups, but even then I wonder if I could lead them well enough for the process to be coherent.
Point two: If you really dedicate to this, the narrative is going to get shafted, and I do not like that. I LOVE that she wants to focus on the art and design, and to bring attention to what are very much informed and purposeful choices, and to bring kids consciously into an awareness of motifs and memes and conventions that we follow in our culture to signal specific ideas or concepts or moods. All of that is really really great, and SHOULD be taught to kids - BUUUUT... it bothers me that the method to achieve this will totally wreck the flow of a good story. Grrr. I am coming at this from a performative and theatrical background, and really truly this bugs me quite a lot. My personal opinion is that this sort of work should be done with books that the reader and audience already knows extremely well. That way the first encounter with a story is always smooth and presents the story, and does justice to the narrative and pictures being a natural and cohesive unified experience (which is what I THINK most picture book authors and artists want anyway - for the work to just meld seamlessly into this delightful experience that kids love, even if they can't specify why they love it). So, book first as narrative, THEN you go can back in with the post-season analysis and really dig into the why and how and wherefore, with as much discussion and digression and not-ever-finishing-the-actual-book as you like.
Point three: Some people like being all meta about their pleasure activities, and (here's the point where I think Lambert is being a bit more universal than she ought) some people really really don't. And I think those preferences that we have as adults are present as kids. Everyone knows the trope of the annoying TV-watching friend who constantly wants to talk talk talk and overanalyze and overthink every little part of Walking Dead or Game of Thrones - and it's not a positive representation. I hate to think that an overenthusiastic Whole Book Approach during a storytime would turn a kid off of reading because they now associate pleasure reading with that piecemeal and reductive meta-critical approach, and it's not a requirement - simply another way to appreciate and enjoy this particular type of book. And I say this as someone who actually already likes to analyze and critique books and artworks - I just realize that not everyone shares that particular impulse. Not everyone is a book reviewer, and not everyone should be. Not everyone wants to think about critical art theory while they relax, and they shouldn't feel like they have to. And there is the other massive downside here - there's the presenter's opinions on this analytical approach to consider as well. This book is likely to cause a small, quiet revolution in at least some places, and I really feel sorry for any librarians and educators who are forced into this method by decree rather than inclination, or any parents doing this out of a sense of obligation towards their child's development. I feel even MORE sorry for the kids they're presenting to. As much harm could come from an individual kid being not interested in the process, infinitely more harm can come to entire classrooms or groups from a slack or grudging approach by an adult forced into presenting this Approach by a boss or by guilt. I strongly believe that you should only read books that you at least LIKE, because kids are perceptive, and for every book I personally don't like enough to tell (SkippyJon Jones, I'm looking at you) there's other people who LOVE it and can do it justice and be enthusiastic. Please please don't make presenters use a storytime format that they don't intrinsically believe to be valuable or worthwhile - it's just going to backfire.
That was an awful lot of criticism, but those three basic points are really my main hesitations. Lambert presents her points clearly and with beautifully-selected picture-book examples, and explains her reasoning and her methodology rationally. I do support her goals, and I think that her method is fundamentally sound. I don't have any desire to see this format replace or supersede "traditional" storytimes, and despite her enthusiastic proposal of this method, I don't think she really does either. There's a time and a place for reading for uninhibited pleasure and for enjoyable critical analysis, and a perfect program would incorporate both, given by adults passionate about books and reading and children's developing minds.
Saturday, January 16, 2016
2015 Review Round-Up: Juv Nonfiction: A Smart Girl's Guide - Babysitting The Care and Keeping of Kids, American Girl
American Girl's Smart Girl's Guide
Babysitting: The Care and Keeping of Kids
Harriet Brown, illustrated by Karen Wolcott
ISBN: 9781609583934
A short but information-dense and updated guide to 21st century babysitting.
Read October 2015
The over-polished illustrations aren't my style, but they are diverse, and are also generally illustrative of concepts presented in the book itself, which makes them useful as well as (presumably) attractive to the target audience of pre-tween and tween girls making their first forays into the wild world of babysitting.
The book doesn't shy away from dealing with the nitty-gritty - how to set a pay scale, how to ask for money, how to handle emergencies or kids who won't go to sleep or siblings who fight. All of the information is presented in a "you've got this down" up-beat peppy style that is encouraging while still being helpful.
Babysitting: The Care and Keeping of Kids
Harriet Brown, illustrated by Karen Wolcott
ISBN: 9781609583934
A short but information-dense and updated guide to 21st century babysitting.
Read October 2015
The over-polished illustrations aren't my style, but they are diverse, and are also generally illustrative of concepts presented in the book itself, which makes them useful as well as (presumably) attractive to the target audience of pre-tween and tween girls making their first forays into the wild world of babysitting.
The book doesn't shy away from dealing with the nitty-gritty - how to set a pay scale, how to ask for money, how to handle emergencies or kids who won't go to sleep or siblings who fight. All of the information is presented in a "you've got this down" up-beat peppy style that is encouraging while still being helpful.
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
Nonfiction: Thirty Million Words, Dana Suskind, MD
Thirty Million Words
Dana Suskind, MD
ISBN: 9780525954873
Tune In, Talk More, Take Turns.
Suskind is a specialist who fits patients with cochlear implants. She is also, after a lifetime of watching some of her patients thrive and others flounder, a staunch promoter of language readiness.
Suskind uses this book to promote the overwhelming (and currently irreplacable) responsibility of parents and caregivers to use the first three years of a child's life to introduce them to the language they'll need to thrive and succeed in life. The thirty million words in the title refer to the landmark longitudinal study of parents from different socio-economic status: by the end of their third year, the well-off child has heard thirty million more words than their less fortunate schoolmates, and this difference profoundly handicaps the kids on the low end of the scale.
The first half of the book explains why Suskind got into this passion project, and details the science behind her drive. The second half breaks down the three Ts involved: Tune In (pay attention to and work in concert with the child's interests) Talk More (the more language you use the better, and specifically the more descriptive language and names of things and concepts), and Take Turns (language learning works best when the kid and the adult are in it together, and the adult isn't "teaching" or lecturing, or simply narrating to the kid).
Dana Suskind, MD
ISBN: 9780525954873
Tune In, Talk More, Take Turns.
Suskind is a specialist who fits patients with cochlear implants. She is also, after a lifetime of watching some of her patients thrive and others flounder, a staunch promoter of language readiness.
Suskind uses this book to promote the overwhelming (and currently irreplacable) responsibility of parents and caregivers to use the first three years of a child's life to introduce them to the language they'll need to thrive and succeed in life. The thirty million words in the title refer to the landmark longitudinal study of parents from different socio-economic status: by the end of their third year, the well-off child has heard thirty million more words than their less fortunate schoolmates, and this difference profoundly handicaps the kids on the low end of the scale.
The first half of the book explains why Suskind got into this passion project, and details the science behind her drive. The second half breaks down the three Ts involved: Tune In (pay attention to and work in concert with the child's interests) Talk More (the more language you use the better, and specifically the more descriptive language and names of things and concepts), and Take Turns (language learning works best when the kid and the adult are in it together, and the adult isn't "teaching" or lecturing, or simply narrating to the kid).
Thursday, August 27, 2015
Nonfiction, Unbored Games, Joshua Glenn & Elizabeth Foy Larsen
Unbored Games: Serious Fun for Everyone
Joshua Glenn & Elizabeth Foy Larsen
ISBN: 9781620407066
A fairly-comprehensive guide to various childhood games and activities.
This is a great little compendium of childhood games. The chapters are divided up into styles of game, and each presents a whole slew of various games and activities - many of which you'll probably remember from car trips, bored summers, and college orientation.
Lots of fun, and lots of info, all in a funny, cartoonish style.
Joshua Glenn & Elizabeth Foy Larsen
ISBN: 9781620407066
A fairly-comprehensive guide to various childhood games and activities.
This is a great little compendium of childhood games. The chapters are divided up into styles of game, and each presents a whole slew of various games and activities - many of which you'll probably remember from car trips, bored summers, and college orientation.
Lots of fun, and lots of info, all in a funny, cartoonish style.
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
Nonfiction: How to Raise a Wild Child, by Scott D. Sampson
How to Raise a Wild Child
Scott D. Sampson
ISBN: 9780544279322
Read June, 2015
Discusses the importance of the natural world to child development and personal happiness.
I think I was expecting this to be a bit more about child development, and less of a personal journey, but I enjoyed the journey nonetheless, and Sampson's voice was clear and passionate all through the book. The science was a bit slim, but there were copious references to other books (some of which I'd actually already read) to handle that angle.
Basically this is one guy's love letter to nature, and why he feels like it has made him a better person, and why he feels like it will help to make every person better and happier. His enthusiasm and passion are hard to argue with, but he does make some assumptions about people being outdoors that I think are based on his own personal interests and aren't quite as universal as he would like to believe they are.
Still, the overall points are well-meant and much needed - even if you don't totally fall in love with bird-watching in your backyard, or don't end up taking camping trips to celebrate milestones with California hippies, it's important to have a deeper and more positive relationship with our world.
Scott D. Sampson
ISBN: 9780544279322
Read June, 2015
Discusses the importance of the natural world to child development and personal happiness.
I think I was expecting this to be a bit more about child development, and less of a personal journey, but I enjoyed the journey nonetheless, and Sampson's voice was clear and passionate all through the book. The science was a bit slim, but there were copious references to other books (some of which I'd actually already read) to handle that angle.
Basically this is one guy's love letter to nature, and why he feels like it has made him a better person, and why he feels like it will help to make every person better and happier. His enthusiasm and passion are hard to argue with, but he does make some assumptions about people being outdoors that I think are based on his own personal interests and aren't quite as universal as he would like to believe they are.
Still, the overall points are well-meant and much needed - even if you don't totally fall in love with bird-watching in your backyard, or don't end up taking camping trips to celebrate milestones with California hippies, it's important to have a deeper and more positive relationship with our world.
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
Nonfiction: How To Raise an Adult, Julie Lythcott-Haims
How to Raise an Adult: break free of the overparenting trap and prepare your kid for success
Julie Lythcott-Haims
ISBN: 9781627791779
In two main parts: first, an exhaustive indictment against modern helicopter parenting, second, a framework for building an authoritative parenting style that helps kids face and overcome challenges.
A little too much time spent establishing what's wrong (although I can see how she might think that she needs to convince people) but the advice is spot-on and direct, offering specific scenarios and talking points to help parents step out of the way of their kids, so the kids can develop life skills themselves, instead of just coasting along in the wake of their parents' organizational and problem-solving efforts.
Julie Lythcott-Haims
ISBN: 9781627791779
In two main parts: first, an exhaustive indictment against modern helicopter parenting, second, a framework for building an authoritative parenting style that helps kids face and overcome challenges.
A little too much time spent establishing what's wrong (although I can see how she might think that she needs to convince people) but the advice is spot-on and direct, offering specific scenarios and talking points to help parents step out of the way of their kids, so the kids can develop life skills themselves, instead of just coasting along in the wake of their parents' organizational and problem-solving efforts.
Monday, September 15, 2014
Nonfiction: Why Don't Students Like School? Daniel T. Willingham
Why Don't Students Like School
Daniel T. Willingham
ISBN: 9780470279304
Cognitive science provides answers to how best to teach and motivate students to learn.
I came across this via the footnotes in the book Curious and was surprised to find it actually in our library catalog.
Here Willingham provides 9 discrete cognitive science concepts that are, in his words: "so fundamental to the mind's operation that they do not change as circumstances change" (italics in original) and that meet three other criteria: "using vs ignoring a principle had to have a big impact on student learning" "an enormous amount of data... to support the principle" and the principle had to "suggest classroom applications that teachers might not already know."
Nicely reasoned set of concepts, and a great way to set out your purpose ahead of time.
Here are our principles, by the way, paraphrased wildly by me:
1) People are naturally curious, but we are not good at thinking.
2) Skill is based on a robust platform of "rote" knowledge
3) Memories are formed based on what we think about strongly or very often.
4) Context is key when learning anything new - we relate new things to familiar ones.
5) Practice makes permanent; about 10 years for most areas of study.
6) Novices and Experts think differently, and that's ok.
7) Learning "styles" or "abilities" (ie, kinesthetic or verbal learners) don't matter to learning UNLESS the content is that style (in other words, learning to sing the Star Spangled Banner vs learning ABOUT the Star Spangled Banner).
8) Intelligence is not static - hard work impacts IQ, knowledge base, and thinking skills.
9) Any skill has to be purposefully practiced to improve.
And there you have it.
He goes through each principle in a chapter, and lays out the science, the real-world implications, the applications in a classroom, some basic questions and answers, and why it's important. I love it when authors are systematic and organized like that.
Strongly considering adding this to my personal childhood development collection.
Daniel T. Willingham
ISBN: 9780470279304
Cognitive science provides answers to how best to teach and motivate students to learn.
I came across this via the footnotes in the book Curious and was surprised to find it actually in our library catalog.
Here Willingham provides 9 discrete cognitive science concepts that are, in his words: "so fundamental to the mind's operation that they do not change as circumstances change" (italics in original) and that meet three other criteria: "using vs ignoring a principle had to have a big impact on student learning" "an enormous amount of data... to support the principle" and the principle had to "suggest classroom applications that teachers might not already know."
Nicely reasoned set of concepts, and a great way to set out your purpose ahead of time.
Here are our principles, by the way, paraphrased wildly by me:
1) People are naturally curious, but we are not good at thinking.
2) Skill is based on a robust platform of "rote" knowledge
3) Memories are formed based on what we think about strongly or very often.
4) Context is key when learning anything new - we relate new things to familiar ones.
5) Practice makes permanent; about 10 years for most areas of study.
6) Novices and Experts think differently, and that's ok.
7) Learning "styles" or "abilities" (ie, kinesthetic or verbal learners) don't matter to learning UNLESS the content is that style (in other words, learning to sing the Star Spangled Banner vs learning ABOUT the Star Spangled Banner).
8) Intelligence is not static - hard work impacts IQ, knowledge base, and thinking skills.
9) Any skill has to be purposefully practiced to improve.
And there you have it.
He goes through each principle in a chapter, and lays out the science, the real-world implications, the applications in a classroom, some basic questions and answers, and why it's important. I love it when authors are systematic and organized like that.
Strongly considering adding this to my personal childhood development collection.
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
The Dolphin Way, Shimi K. Kang, MD
The Dolphin Way
Shimi K. Kang, MD
ISBN: 9780399166044
Nonfiction: Parenting
A backlash against "tiger" parenting, this book mainly rehashes the benefits of authoritative (not authoritarian or permissive) parenting styles by drawing on the playful and communal lives of dolphins. However, she never seems to get far enough into dolphin biology and behavior to suit me, nor does she really add much to the authoritative viewpoint other than that particular framework.
Lots of "do" and "don't" lists, and the text in those lists is formatted in a strangely unreadable font - very compressed and smaller than the "reading" text. I suppose it's to make them stand out, but for as long and involved as they are (bullet-points these are most assuredly not) it seems like they could have found a more inviting text to use.
Final personal preference quirk: I really love individual case stories (even when I know they're made up - scuse me, "compiled" from actual cases) and while there were a few sprinkled here and there, the ones that were there were really interesting and compelling - sadly moreso than her directives and musings on dolphins. I would have liked to see more of the cases used as examples for both good and bad.
Shimi K. Kang, MD
ISBN: 9780399166044
Nonfiction: Parenting
A backlash against "tiger" parenting, this book mainly rehashes the benefits of authoritative (not authoritarian or permissive) parenting styles by drawing on the playful and communal lives of dolphins. However, she never seems to get far enough into dolphin biology and behavior to suit me, nor does she really add much to the authoritative viewpoint other than that particular framework.
Lots of "do" and "don't" lists, and the text in those lists is formatted in a strangely unreadable font - very compressed and smaller than the "reading" text. I suppose it's to make them stand out, but for as long and involved as they are (bullet-points these are most assuredly not) it seems like they could have found a more inviting text to use.
Final personal preference quirk: I really love individual case stories (even when I know they're made up - scuse me, "compiled" from actual cases) and while there were a few sprinkled here and there, the ones that were there were really interesting and compelling - sadly moreso than her directives and musings on dolphins. I would have liked to see more of the cases used as examples for both good and bad.
Thursday, June 12, 2014
Free-Range Kids, Lenore Skenazy
Free-Range Kids
Lenore Skenazy
ISBN: 9780470471944
re-read June 11, 2014.
I've read this before, but I wanted to revisit the advice - I forgot how funny it was. She's got that perfect exasperated voice down pat (you can tell she has kids from that tone) and she uses it to skewer our 24-hour newsmedia cycle, and businesses that sell fear, and parents trying to bubble-wrap their kids.
Sadly, 5 years after it was written, I feel like it needs a sequel "No, Seriously, Quit Sheltering Your Kids" because it doesn't seem to be getting any better.
I also forgot that there were a lot of references made to her own mental health and how she's working on being a more relaxed and self-accepting person, which was also a nice surprise to re-encounter this time around.
It's a little thin on actual suggestions, but the overall ideas are solid, and using anecdotes and personal stories provides a nice personal touch.
Lenore Skenazy
ISBN: 9780470471944
re-read June 11, 2014.
I've read this before, but I wanted to revisit the advice - I forgot how funny it was. She's got that perfect exasperated voice down pat (you can tell she has kids from that tone) and she uses it to skewer our 24-hour newsmedia cycle, and businesses that sell fear, and parents trying to bubble-wrap their kids.
Sadly, 5 years after it was written, I feel like it needs a sequel "No, Seriously, Quit Sheltering Your Kids" because it doesn't seem to be getting any better.
I also forgot that there were a lot of references made to her own mental health and how she's working on being a more relaxed and self-accepting person, which was also a nice surprise to re-encounter this time around.
It's a little thin on actual suggestions, but the overall ideas are solid, and using anecdotes and personal stories provides a nice personal touch.
Saturday, August 17, 2013
Parenting Without Power Struggles, Susan Stiffelman
Parenting Without Power Struggles, Susan Stiffelman (M.FT). ISBN: 9781451667660
Read August 15, 2013
Nonfiction: parenting.
This was an excellent read. Very clear, and very specific
instructions on WHAT to do (and also what not to do, although I like
that she focuses on the positive - no "don't think about pink elephants"
here, which was very nice) and WHY it is that it's good to do. She's
also amazingly clear that these interactions are challenging to do, hard
to keep up, and really difficult to get right in real life, with real
children. I admire that approach. I also like that her example texts
don't have children who magically become compliant and happy as soon as
the magic words are used, which is a fault in a lot of the parenting
technique books I've encountered.
I do have some quibbles - I could have used a lot more of the
information in Chapters 1-8 and 10, and a little less in the others.
I especially feel like she shortchanged the reader on the contents of
Chapter 10 dealing with depression and anxiety. If/when I have kids, I
know that the best way to help them is to have my own depression and
anxiety under control so I feel geninely happy around my kid. I also
know that given the way my brain works, there's no way in hell that's
actually going to happen. So a little real-life advice on how to
counteract that would have been lovely. Same with the Act 1/Act 2
advice. That was very hastily done, and not as clear as it could
perhaps have been. I'm also not as fond of mindmaps and assigning
emotions to colors and whatnot, so all of the slightly "woo" bits did
ruffle my feathers a bit, but there wasn't much of it - I'm just
super-sensitive to that sort of thing.
Overall, well-organized, well-explained, and well-done. I'm
actually going to buy a copy for myself and my husband, and I have only
done that with two other parenting/child-development books so far.
Good company! (The others are Beth Grosshan's Beyond Time Out, and Paul Tough's How Children Succeed.)
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