Readable psychology.

I do not have children, and I have never been that interested in children (my nieces and nephews notwithstanding). And yet I enjoyed the hell out of Po Bronson's and Ashley Merryman's bestseller NurtureShock: New Thinking about Children.*

I didn't expect to like it or find it all that interesting, but it was one of those books I picked up because it was getting a lot of word-of-mouth attention, and for some reason, every book Po Bronson touches seems to become a mega-bestseller. Well, I guess I know why he's so popular. What he and Merryman have produced here is a quick-reading, interesting psychology textbook, and that's a rare beast. (Take it from someone who took a lot of credits of psychology in college.)

The premise of the book is to debunk, basically, a lot of the things we "know" about childrearing. There are chapters on how telling your child constantly that he or she is smart actually lowers their motivation (consider instead praising their effort); how the one less hour of sleep modern kids get can lead to increased rates of obesity and ADHD; why kids lie (and they all do--I LOVED this chapter); why IQ tests administered to young children don't work; and language acquisition (among many other topics). All parents should give this book a quick glance, and I think it would be even more useful for people who work with kids on a regular basis, including children's librarians.

*This is why it's a good idea to sometimes read nonfiction out of your regular subject area interests. You never know what you'll find.

Comments

[Sarah]

I started as a childrens libn in the mid-80s with all of the gifted Yuppie puppies. ALL gifted. No exceptions. Which is why they aren't so much into effort and discipline (from what I hear; I don't know too many) now?

[Beth]

so something that actually IS up your alley....
http://www.amazon.com/Letters-Sylvia-Beach/dp/0231145365
i read about it today and thought it looked like something for you.
but i second reading outside your comfort zone/areas of interest. you never know what treasures you'll find out there.

[Jessica]

Loved it. I found the section on fighting with teenagers really helpful. That's what I liked best, that the book covered all ages of kids. I also shared the part about language acquisition with my cousin, whose 18-month-old (!) doesn't seem to have much speech yet at all. Hopefully it might help.

[Citizen Reader]

Oh, Sarah,
All librarians have been there (with "gifted" children). I used to get a charge out of it when people would wander up to the ref desk at 8 p.m. on a Friday night and tell me their 4th grader was reading at a 9th grade level, and they needed challenging reading without challenging content. I always wanted to reply, "Yeah, you know where reading ahead of your grade level gets you? Working behind a ref service desk at 8 p.m. on a Friday night. Tell your kid to work on math." But I never did. *Sigh.* Which is why the IQ chapter was interesting--turns out all sorts of gifted kids aren't, and non-gifted kids are. There's also lots about discipline (or lack thereof).

Beth,
I'm off to check out the Amazon link. Thanks for thinking of me! Yes, I know you read broadly too, and I always appreciate the wide-ranging topics and titles you bring to the discussion.

Jessica,
Yeah, I really liked it too. I also enjoyed the teen chapter, and thought it might actually give parents some solace. And I did like that there were some practical, easy suggestions, particularly in that chapter on language acquisition (which I find is kind of a fascinating subject anyway). Glad you loved it!

[Sarah]

It was REALLY bad in the 80s, though, and I admit to being pleasantly surprised these days with how few times I hear this.