"NurtureShock"

(New Thinking About Children)
-by po bronson & ashley merryman
2009
A windstorm that blows through traditional attitudes on child psychology (and by "traditional", i mean the stuff that is currently being employed by parents and schools everywhere). Bronson and merryman tabulate reams of new research that show us where we've been going astray. Heaping unqualified praise on children early and often may make them insecure under-performers - far better to praise effort ("mind is muscle"). Children get one hour less sleep than they did thirty years ago - which may be making them dumber, unhappier, fatter, plus that ADHD thing! Children in diverse schools are LESS likely to have a cross-racial friendship, traditional strategies to promote honesty only make children better liars, and educational media films for young children make them more aggressive and controlling (AND fail to improve their language growth...but now we know what does). Oh yes, and almost everything we thought about school gifted programs seems to be wrong. The research from chapter 7 shows that rebellion is a necessary function of teen brain growth, and that their argumentativeness with parents is a sign of respect...though that's the only chapter of which i'm not sure the researchers were asking the right questions. They were ignoring the sociological effects of raising children in a fear-based society of alienation. The authors themselves toss out one huge blind spot bias, asserting that natural teen sexuality is "bad", and to be repressed. But by and large, this brilliant book is guaranteed to turn much of what you thought you knew about parenting on its head.