NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children by Po Bronson
My enjoyment rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Book source: Nook
Genre: Non fiction; self help-parenting
Objectionable material: none -- unless what they espouse makes you uncomfortable as a parent!
One thing I’ve done right as a parent – taught my children to sleep. Teach you might ask? Yes…it started when they were 6 weeks old – consider it basic training for infants – or Baby Wise or Baby Whisperer or Cry it Out – regardless, it worked and my kids have always had strict bedtimes and no other sleep related issues.
In their book, NurtureShock, Po Bronson and Ashley Merriman try to de-bunk the common myths most parents adhere to when raising their child(ren): praise and reward them often, their activity schedule is more important than their sleep schedule, raising a child in a diverse environment automatically makes them racially accepting, sitting a child in front of a language video will immediately advance their language skills, among other issues like lying, and sibling rivalry
For the most part – none of their topics seemed “new” or “wow’d” me. We’ve always put a priority on sleep; we’ve never been overdosing praise-type parents – probably because my kids are just “average” kids – who for the most part struggle with everything they attempt. So instead of “you’re so smart” or “you’re so great”, it’s “you’ve got to try harder…”.
I certainly appreciated the chapter on LYING. We’ve entered that phase in our household. To know that my kid isn’t necessarily evil – and that 96% of kids lie to their parents – is comforting, I guess. Also, that the arguments my daughter and I have will most likely be forgotten, is a relief. Whew.
After spending a week at boy scout camp, I’m sure my husband would view this book as required reading for 98% of the parents who had kids there, because of the behavior issues he encountered. He is done with over-praised, self entitled children.
Overall, a good analysis and shake up of long held beliefs – and how we can do better for our kids.
i read and enjoyed this book last year. I'm a sleep nazi mother, but i needed the other advice.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the statistic on lying....I'm going to keep my eye balls on my kids. Glad to know that we are all in the same boat. Another great book you might want to review is called, "Get Real! Fighting The Mythic Woman Finding Your Authentic Self" by author Ananya S. Rajan. his a non-fiction self help book written for all women who would like to learn how to know themselves more and become more comfortable and confident in who they are. I just finished this book and learned so much about being more confidant as a woman. http://www.fightingthemythicwoman.com/
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