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A review by bibliophage
The Self-Driven Child: The Science and Sense of Giving Your Kids More Control Over Their Lives by William Stixrud, Ned Johnson
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
“We really can’t control our kids—and doing so shouldn’t be our goal. Our role is to teach them to think and act independently, so that they will have the judgment to succeed in school and, most important, in life. Rather than pushing them to do things they resist, we should seek to help them find things they love and develop their inner motivation. Our aim is to move away from a model that depends on parental pressure to one that nurtures a child’s own drive. That is what we mean by the self-driven child.”
📚📖📚
A clear and encouraging guide to helping your child become an effective autonomous being. The main point: Helping your child recognize their agency to make decisions and act is key to long-term success.
There was a lot I really liked about this book, and I hope to use the larger guiding principles and the recommendations in my own parenting. I believe strongly that helping children recognize their agency, make decisions, and act is key to their long-term success. The authors share excellent direction for parents (and perhaps teachers) that I believe is valuable. However, this book is certainly written for a very specific audience (primarily privileged white families) and many of the challenges described here are not inclusive of families of low-income situations, single-parent households, or non-traditional family set-ups. Example: One of the examples in the book discusses a child trying to decide which school to attend, but many families (most families?) don't even have the option to choose between two private schools, or even between a charter school and a public school, or even two public schools (so many factors are at play here and often even prevent many children from having those options). Other examples are similar. So, while the principle being illustrated is key, the examples don't line-up for a significant portion of the population. Families and children who face challenges of socio-economic inequality or racial discrimination have additional barriers not addressed here and I would like to hear the authors take on these other situations to make their larger (important and excellent!) principles more applicable to a broader and more diverse audience.
📚📖📚
A clear and encouraging guide to helping your child become an effective autonomous being. The main point: Helping your child recognize their agency to make decisions and act is key to long-term success.
There was a lot I really liked about this book, and I hope to use the larger guiding principles and the recommendations in my own parenting. I believe strongly that helping children recognize their agency, make decisions, and act is key to their long-term success. The authors share excellent direction for parents (and perhaps teachers) that I believe is valuable. However, this book is certainly written for a very specific audience (primarily privileged white families) and many of the challenges described here are not inclusive of families of low-income situations, single-parent households, or non-traditional family set-ups. Example: One of the examples in the book discusses a child trying to decide which school to attend, but many families (most families?) don't even have the option to choose between two private schools, or even between a charter school and a public school, or even two public schools (so many factors are at play here and often even prevent many children from having those options). Other examples are similar. So, while the principle being illustrated is key, the examples don't line-up for a significant portion of the population. Families and children who face challenges of socio-economic inequality or racial discrimination have additional barriers not addressed here and I would like to hear the authors take on these other situations to make their larger (important and excellent!) principles more applicable to a broader and more diverse audience.