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30 reviews for:
The Orchid and the Dandelion: Why Sensitive People Struggle and How All Can Thrive
W. Thomas Boyce
3.54 AVERAGE
30 reviews for:
The Orchid and the Dandelion: Why Sensitive People Struggle and How All Can Thrive
W. Thomas Boyce
3.54 AVERAGE
interesting concept but spent the entire time debating between the two.
informative
slow-paced
informative
medium-paced
I really liked the interview with Boyce on NPR, but found the prose so over-the-top-florid that it felt unreadable at times. This book could have been a great read at half the length and with less storytelling/editorializing.
As the parent of an orchid, and probably a dandelion, I found much of this helpful and hopeful, but at the same time there's a growing consensus that this is a false dichotomy, and there's more of a spectrum, with orchids and dandelions as the endpoints.
As the parent of an orchid, and probably a dandelion, I found much of this helpful and hopeful, but at the same time there's a growing consensus that this is a false dichotomy, and there's more of a spectrum, with orchids and dandelions as the endpoints.
informative
reflective
medium-paced
These are more of my notes along the way so I can remember: I’m 1/3 of the way through... sometimes it gets pretty textbookish. Boyce goes into a lot of detail about how his studies are set up. I’m learning a lot of super interesting things though... 1 in 5 kids are orchids. Whether by birth or brought on by circumstances. And that 20% of children make up 50% of medical treatments for their age groups both physically and social emotional. Orchids in a negative environment typically have serious problems in the future but orchids that come from supportive low stress homes make up the most successful people. So their ceiling is way higher because of their sensitivity to their surroundings. Another really interesting thing was that orchids from a stable supportive home begin puberty later than the average but orchids that live with stressors will begin before avg. (Early puberty is linked to a lot of negative outcomes. Teenage pregnancies and early sexual activity in general) dandelions are just down the middle on everything, which is nice but have less likelihood of doing something groundbreaking or super successful. Just like an orchid, hard to grow, but when done successfully they are the most rare extreme beauties... last takeaways are: the orchid dandelion label is a spectrum. One could be a dandelion with some orchid tendencies or vice versa. Or one could be an extreme dandelion or orchid. The best thing a parent or teacher can do is create a stable, supportive, loving environment for the child to thrive.
Overall, this book gave me a lot to think about. I started reflecting on my own childhood, who and what had the biggest impact on me and why, and wondering where I fell on the whole dandelion-orchid spectrum (dandelion with orchid tendencies methinks). The author also included real stories from his career and patients to convey certain points, which added much more depth and color to the book.
However, it did get repetitive. After a while it felt like certain points were being harped on using different words. It was also hard for me to stay engaged as he gave long and very detailed accounts of experiments they did. I'm not a research book girl so that could just be me
However, it did get repetitive. After a while it felt like certain points were being harped on using different words. It was also hard for me to stay engaged as he gave long and very detailed accounts of experiments they did. I'm not a research book girl so that could just be me
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Really interesting research about how sensitive children respond disproportionately to their environments, both positive and negative. This also includes some strong research about how critical social environments are to helping children thrive.