Bad News on Raising Kids
High self-esteem doesn't improve grades, reduce anti-social behavior, deter alcohol drinking or do much of anything good for kids…. The benefits of teaching tolerance and promoting diversity look equally unimpressive in the current research…. Drop-out programs don't work. Neither do anti-drug programs.
Isn’t the real problem that low-grades don’t seem to reduce self-esteem? If there is no payoff for achievement; or no shame in the lack of achievement, why do we expect kids to study when Facebook, television and texting is more fun?
My parents seemed to share the belief that it was their responsibility to reduce my enjoyment of life if my grades were not high. My parents understood the value of incentives to achieve positive behavioral outcomes!
Sounds like nothing you do matters except passing on your genes (see the post above).
Has anyone noticed that advice on raising children is like “best practices” in medicine? No matter what the recommendation is today, in a short period of time it will change. See the post above.