Psychologist Madeline Levine brings together
cutting-edge research and thirty years of clinical
experience to explode once and for all the myth that
good grades, high test scores, and college acceptances
should define the parenting endgame. Parents, educators,
and the media wring their hands about the plight of
America's children and teens--soaring rates of emotional
problems, limited coping skills, disengagement from
learning and yet there are ways to reverse these
disheartening trends. Teach Your Children Well
acknowledges that every parent wants successful
children. However, until we are clearer about our core
values and the parenting choices that are most likely to
lead to authentic, and not superficial, success, we will
continue to raise exhausted, externally driven, impaired
children who believe they are only as good as their last
performance. Real success is always an inside job,
argues Levine, and is measured not by today's report
card but by the people our children become fifteen or
twenty years down the line. Refusing to be diverted by
manufactured controversies such as ''tiger moms versus
coddling moms,'' Levine confronts the real issues behind
the way we push some of our kids to the breaking point
while dismissing the talents and interests of many
others. She shows us how to shift our focus from the
excesses of hyperparenting and the unhealthy reliance on
our children for status and meaning to a parenting style
that concentrates on both enabling academic success as
well as developing a sense of purpose, well-being,
connection, and meaning in our children's lives. Teach
Your Children Well is a call to action. And while it
takes courage to make the changes we believe in, the
time has come, says Levine, to return our overwrought
families to a healthier and saner version of
themselves. |
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