The Book I Wish I Had Written

In what little free time I have these days I’ve been reading the new book, NutureShock by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman. I don’t want to steal too much of the book’s thunder because I’m sure the authors would rather you read it yourself, but this is a really good book if you’re interested in child development like I am. NurtureShock sets out to do what I try to do with this blog: translate and present academic child development research in a user-friendly format to the non-academic audience. I’ve already read several chapters and I can tell that NutureShock does this well. The book tackles popular child development issues such as language development, parental praise, sleep, and self-control. From the chapters I’ve read so far, the authors seem to do a good job pulling from the latest academic research in the field. They use this research to debunk some common child development myths or misconceptions that have been around for years. I should note that this is not really a parenting book. The authors are careful not to try to offer advice on how to parent based on the research. Rather, they describe the research findings and their implications for child development and let the reader decide whether or not this might change how they parent in a given situation. If you’re are interested in latest child development research (and you probably are since you’re reading this blog) I encourage you to check out this book.