Welcome back! It is so nice to see everyone again after the break. 

One of the most thought-provoking books I read over vacation was NurtureShock: New Thinking about Children – a book that might interest you. Here is a little bit about the book, with an invitation to read it with me.

 The two authors of this book, Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman, set out to determine whether some of our most cherished ideas about raising children were supported by research and evidence. “Why our instincts about children can be so off the mark” leads off ten chapters of surprising and informative findings. Nearly a third of the book is documentation, but within the chapters, their reporting of the studies’ results is lively and quite readable. Fortunately they also offer some ways to tweak what we already do to accomplish what we meant to do all along. 

 The topics include:

•  The Inverse Power of Praise – how praise can backfire

•  The Lost Hour – about the effects of loss of sleep

•  Why White Parents Don’t Talk about Race – there is a window of opportunity that many of us miss

•  Why Kids Lie – Jonathan will address this in Friday’s parenting group

•  The Search for Intelligent Life in Kindergarten –why using intelligence tests with young children doesn’t work

•  The Sibling Effect – why siblings really fight

•  The Science of Teen Rebellion – why arguing is constructive in a relationship with a teen

•  Can Self-Control be Taught? – techniques taught in pre-school that work

•  Plays Well with Others – why enlightened parenting doesn’t necessarily produce angels

•  Why Hannah Talks and Alyssa Doesn’t – early language skills can be encouraged by certain techniques, but not DVDs

Two groups of teachers are reading this book and discussing it. If a group of parents would care to join me, I’d love to have a discussion group to talk about each chapter together. Let me know if you are interested.

Hannah

OPB Airing Program:  Raising Cain:  Boys in Focus, with Psychologist and Author Michael Thompson

Beginning School Parenting Group

Topic:                The Truth about Lying:  Your Beehiver and Lying

Day and Time:  Friday, January 8th after Friday Sing (9:10ish)

Location:          Jubitz Conference Room (below Upper School Library)

What’s Next?

Be part of a dynamic, interactive evening that merges art, culture, diversity and global issues.

Viewfinder Global Film Series