The Gardener and the Carpenter: What the New Science of Child Development Tells Us About the Relationship Between Parents and Children
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.79 (566 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 1250132258 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 320 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2013-10-16 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
“Bracing and thoughtful Educators looking to resist the current vogue for highly scripted, teacher-driven lesson modules will be delighted by Gopnik’s strong scientific case for letting children guide their own learning Gopnik shines when she describes the intricate world of children’s play She also has a subtle grasp of policy problems bedeviling young children and their families Gopnik never veers from her faith in the warm human bond between caregiver and child that drives not only 'the pathos, but also the moral depth' of being a parent. And that, Gop
. She writes the Mind and Matter column for The Wall Street Journal and is the author of The Philosophical Baby and coauthor of The Scientist in the Crib. Alison Gopnik is a professor of psychology and an affiliate professor of philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley. She is an internationally r
Yet the thing we call “parenting” is a surprisingly new invention. Children are designed to be messy and unpredictable, playful and imaginativeand to be very different both from their parents and from each other.. One of the world's leading child psychologists shatters the myth of "good parenting"Caring deeply about our children is part of what makes us human. In the past thirty years, the concept of parenting and the multibillion-dollar industry surrounding it have transformed child care into obsessive, controlling, and goal-oriented labor intended to create a particular kind of child and therefore a particular kind of adult.In The Gardener and the Carpenter, the pioneering developmental psychologist and philosopher Alison Gopnik argues that the familiar twenty-first-century picture of parents and children is profoundly wrongit’s not just base
"Gopnik has written yet another wonderful, wise book about children." according to Graham H. Seibert. Gopnik's gardener/carpenter metaphor goes to the heart of the way children are seen in modern America, epitomized by the recent coinage "parenting." A gardener supports animate objects as they grow according to their own internal nature. A carpenter shapes inanimate objects entirely according to his own will. In Gopnik's words:"In the parenting model, being a parent is like being a carpenter. You should pay some attention to the kind of material you are working with, and it may have some influence on what you try to do."But essentially your job is to shape that material. C. Nagy said Compelling and insightful text with unfortunately framed introduction. The central thesis of this book and most of the supporting text is intriguing and compelling. The core idea is that “parenting”, encompassed by a set of techniques with associated expertise and focus on outcomes, is problematic for a variety of reasons; “being a parent”, encompassed by a human relationship that allows children to flourish, is more congruent with children’s developmental needs. The section on children and technology is particularly illuminating — perhaps the very best treatment of cultural innovation and technology as . "Great read even if you aren't raising children" according to MWH. Thoughtful book, clearly talking about how children explore and learn. We don't shape children (the carpenter) but provide the environment (gardener) that supports them as they develop the tools to flourish in the future, unpredictable world. The author also writes about society, caregiving, and aging. I'm not directly involved with children, or grandchildren, yet I found this a fascinating book to read. I highly recommend it.