Raising Happy and Successful Kids

The well-written and witty memoir Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother (one way to market a parenting book in this time of war and political violence)is a mixed bag. Chua thinks parents should hold high expectations and encourage kids to work hard and achieve competence. Yes, hurray for that! But the  Read More 

Here's a really good piece I wish I'd read when my son came home crying after he'd lost a Monopoly game with a neighbor:
Got a Sore Loser?

Despite media fondness for reports of hyper- and helicopter parenting, most if not all parents are NOT "too involved" with their kids. While some kinds of parental involvement with kids are better than others, say researchers, any kind of involvement is better than none at all.

See my full article at Miller-McCune.com  Read More 

Looking for an escape? A funny escape? If you want to laugh about life with kids, then try Lucy Adams’ If Mama Don’t Laugh it Ain’t’ Funny . Really, if your kids are driving you crazy it’s very soothing to read about Lucy’s kids driving her crazy!

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Are humans wired to be selfish? No,not necessarily: evidence is mounting that shows we humans are are evolving to become more compassionate. One reason is that studies show when you're generous, others respect you more. Other research finds that compassion -- sympathetic emotion from others -- makes you feel happy and relaxed, because it stimulates the  Read More 

Have you ever had to fight the urge to do your child’s homework or complete a project for him? At the recent Learning & the Brain Conference in Cambridge, Mass., my coauthor Wendy Grolnick talked about the natural human urge to shield our young from emotional, social, and psychological pain. When parents face certain pressures, however, that  Read More 

Andre Agassi hated tennis? That’s the surprise in his new autobiography Open, but the surprise evaporates when you read why: Agassi didn’t choose to play tennis. He felt forced to play. His immigrant dad wanted his son to live the American dream, to have the life choices he’d not had himself,  Read More 

Kids who bully do so because they feel weak inside and want to feel strong. (See my story coming out soon in Scouting magazine.) Now a study showing that bosses bully for the same reason:

Bosses who feel inadequate can turn into bullies

By Yasmin Anwar, | 13 October 2009 UC Berkeley News Center

BERKELEY — Bosses  Read More 

Here's a Stanford News Service summary of a fascinating study by Stanford professor Andrea Lunsford. Kids are writing more today than ever before, she says. Their writing may look very different from that of past generations, but it's rich and complex -- and aimed at influencing the world they live in.


The New Literacy:  Read More 

Yesterday while talking to parents at Echo Horizon school in Culver City, Ca. about Pressured Parents, Stressed-out Kids, I mentioned that I’d found giving my kids empathy difficult --- even though I know empathy helps you take a child’s point of view, which strengthens her feelings of autonomy. I guess  Read More