Nurture Shock
New Thinking about Children
Po Braonson and Ashely Merryman

Twelve
January 2011 / ISBN 978-0446504133
Child rearing
Amazon

Reviewed by Willie Elliott

Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman have written an informative and entertaining book on child rearing that questions some of the most popular strategies for raising children in Nurture Shock: New Thinking about Children.

Many young parents will be looking for insights on how to better prepare their children for the adult world while older parents will find themselves keeping score as they compare their strategies with those espoused by the authors.

Each of the sections gives advice on how to change the accepted rules for ones that better serve the well being of the child. Some advice should be taken with a grain of salt. For example, the authors tell us not to tell our kids they are not smart as it will put too much pressure on them, but many will tell their youngsters they are smart but still have to work at being productive.

One of the most interesting sections in on lying, and the author points out how children learn the art from their parents. After reading the section, most parents will agree with the authors.

An extra bonus of this book and one that makes for good reading is the thorough discussion of the scientific experiments the authors (and others) performed to come up with their findings.

Read the book and adapt the findings to fit you and your child. Some good points are made in each section that many of us parents have not considered before.

Reviewer's Note: