I promise they are not too boomer-authoritarian, and will only make you feel better about your kid. Your mom might have read these about you. But this friend just so happens to be your child, which means they must be spying on her from the great Yale tenure in the sky (then hopping in a time machine to publish these books in 1976, 40 years before she was born). Ilg, were psychologists and co-founders of the Gesell Child Development Institute at Yale, but their authority on the subject feels both colloquial and encyclopedic, like they’re describing a dear friend they’ve spent their whole lives observing and thinking about.
The late co-authors, Louise Bates Ames and Frances L. They’re all actually little - about 150 pages (a third of which are black-and-white photo illustrations of children from the ‘70s) - and follow the same general formula: here’s what you’re dealing with, here’s what tends to work, isn’t it fascinating!, do what works and it will get better soon.
How to raise a genius book by hungarian psychologist pdf series#
This is book is part of a series of the best little books about child development. (Harder than you’d think.) The parenting books listed here are some of the best of the best. The good ones are both consoling and challenging, reminding us that to be a parent who is present, and forgiving, and kind, you must first be all of these things to yourself. The very best parenting books are better than the intentions we bring to them. Hoping for this is a trap, one that’s impossible to avoid. In this way, they’re a lot like parenting itself: We want to shape our children into something other than our own image (something better). Parenting books, if they’re worth their salt (and most aren’t), tend to lead us back to ourselves and toward a reckoning with our own parentage. We can’t really control things (like our kids), but at least we aren’t alone. Instead, the best parenting books should make us feel better in a complicated, hard-truth way. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (Random House, 2006).I believe that if you’re going to invest your time and money in reading a parenting book, it should leave you feeling better than you did before - but not in an easy or cheap way, with ten steps or a “plan” for success. This can support a parent's arguments for more-advanced work, and can reveal issues such as dyslexia, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, or social and emotional challenges. Smart students often need more-challenging material, extra support or the freedom to learn at their own pace. Work with teachers to meet your child's needs. Help children to develop a 'growth mindset' by praising effort, not ability.Įncourage children to take intellectual risks and to be open to failures that help them learn.īeware of labels: being identified as gifted can be an emotional burden. Support both intellectual and emotional needs. When a child exhibits strong interests or talents, provide opportunities to develop them.
That goal, she says, “can lead to all sorts of social and emotional problems”.īenbow and other talent-development researchers offer the following tips to encourage both achievement and happiness for smart children. “Setting out to raise a genius is the last thing we'd advise any parent to do,” says Camilla Benbow, dean of education and human development at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.