DailyDirt: Good Parenting

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Raising kids isn't easy. Most parents want their kids to be successful, self-motivated, socially well-adjusted, smart, funny, artistic, good at sports, etc, etc.... But these kinds of parental requirements are enough to drive anyone a bit crazy -- and it's a bit unrealistic to think that parents have that much control over the personality and success of their kids. Still, parents want to try to provide the best opportunities for their children, but before parents out there try out the Tiger Mom method, check out a few of these links.

• Psychologists have found that praising kids by saying, "you worked so hard on that" instead of "you're so good at that" makes for more self-motivated kids when they grow up. The researchers studied kids 1-3yo and followed up with the same kids when they were 7-8yo, and the kids who were encouraged for their efforts were more likely to tackle challenges and believe that their personal abilities could change and be developed. [url]
• A study of 'Tiger Mom' parenting suggests that the kids of these parents get lower grades and feel more alienated from their parents. Being a supportive parent seems to produce kids that are high achievers and at low risk for depression, but there are more than just a handful of parenting styles (eg. Permissive, Authoritative, Authoritarian, Negligent...), and the outcomes are not always well defined. [url]
• Overparenting is a popular parenting style that's based on the good intentions of parents not wanting to see their kids unhappy. But with parenting, "if you can't stand to see your child unhappy, you are in the wrong business." [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.

Filed Under: children, education, motivation, overparenting, parenting, praise, tiger mom