Rating: 4 stars
Cover synopsis: NutureShock provides a revolutionary perspective on childhood that upends a library's worth of conventional wisdom. It gets to the core of how we grow, learn, and live.
This was a fascinating book. It looks at the conventional wisdom about children and how they act, learn and grow, and stacked it against science. As it turns out, the way we think is best to raise our children may actually be backfiring.
For instance, you shouldn't tell your children that they are "smart," you should praise their effort. You shouldn't expect baby videos to enhance your child's language -- in fact they can hinder it because they use a disembodied voice and your baby never sees the face of the person talking. If your teenager is arguing with you, that's a good sign! And letting your kids stay up even an extra 15 minutes has large ramifications.
I appreciated the scientific approach. Some of the chapters are purely geared toward social programs or policy makers. On the ones that are most applicable to parents, however, I would have appreciated more detail about how I can make the most of this research in raising my own kids. I felt like I had to read between the lines to get the takeaway points. All in all, though, an interesting read!
