Rethinking Achievement Culture
A Discussion of the Risks of Achievement Culture in Never Enough by Jennifer Breheny Wallace
Parenting Books
Why Weight Matters in Childhood – Takeaways from Magic Pill by Johann Hari
Magic Pill explores the reasons so many people struggle to lose weight in a traditional way. Many people are essentially trapped at an unhealthy BMI by a combination of biology, psychology, and their established eating habits. I found this discussion very interesting as there are a number of lessons applicable to raising kids, from avoiding teaching eating as a coping mechanism to understanding the role of processed food, etc.
Developing Brains: Takeaways from The Whole Brain Child by Daniel J. Siegel, M.D., and Tina Payne Bryson, Ph.D.
The express goal of The Whole Brain Child is to teach parents strategies for better integrating a child’s brain. However, I think it is better described as a self-help book for parents: how to more skillfully handle your child on a day-to-day basis.
Parenting Successful Kids – Takeaways from The Triple Package by Amy Chua and Jed Rubenfeld
For children of immigrants, assimilation into American culture has been associated with worse outcomes. What are these parents doing differently? Here are my practical takeaways for parents.
Yellow Flag for Social Emotional Learning – Takeaways from Bad Therapy by Abigail Shrier
This book challenged my initial belief that emotional social learning taught in schools was probably harmless and likely beneficial. One of my primary takeaways from Bad Therapy was that some techniques that are currently in-vogue for parents and teachers to teach emotional skills (i.e., “social emotional learning”) are counterproductive.