Great Book: Nurture Shock

On vacation I got the chance to do a little reading. I bought the book Nurture Shock when I was on maternity leave, but just got the opportunity to read it. The book tackles some of the things we do naturally as parents but may want to reconsider. It addresses praising your children, talking about race, relationships with siblings and how and why some kids talk earlier than others.

One of the first sections I read was why simply praising your children as smart wasn't helpful. Although as a parent I think I'm helping instill confidence when I say, "you're so smart" what the book pointed out was that children who were smart and told so often would give up on tasks if they weren't successful right away. A better way to approach praise is to reinforce the effort and trying new things. The book recommended sharing with your children that the brain is a muscle and it only gets stronger when you exercise it and try new things.

I loved this idea even as advice for myself. It's so easy to do what's familiar or what you're comfortable with, but you learn and grow when you try something new. I've started to apply this to how I praise Chloe and Connor, but also put it into practice in my own life and trying new things, things that might be a little scary, but that I can get better at over time.