I’m not writing detailed posts about every book I read anymore. Trying to free up some time for more creative pursuits. So, here are a few quick thoughts on my latest reads.
Welcome to Your Child’s Brain by Sandra Aamodt and Sam Wang
This book didn’t give me an y magical insights into what is happening inside my son’s head. I didn’t expect it to, really.
“Most children are dandelions; they flourish in any reasonable circumstances. In contrast, orchid children with difficult temperaments (quick to anger or fear) benefit measurably from supportive parenting.”
Children need all kinds of supports. Hopefully, parents are giving their children what they need. Here’s some great advice though . . .
“You should be very skeptical of the phrase ‘just this once’ when it pops into your head in moments of parenting stress. Frankly, whatever you’re thinking of doing, you’re unlikely to do it only once.”
That is so true.
I learned a few things while reading it and took some notes that will likely become a post on my Know School blog, so stay tuned!
Reader, Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital World by Maryanne Wolf
Wolf calls herself “a farmer of children” because it is clearly a “much better than a teacher or a researcher of the reading brain.”
As the school year draws to a close, I relate with her though about how her students are both hers and not.
They are ‘Mine own, and not mine own,’ as Shakespeare described one of the many forms of love, in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. They are our own, and not our won. Further, they are on the verge of becoming more different from us—their parents and grandparents and great grandparents—than at any time since the last other, great transitions in modes of communication: the time between Socrates’ oral culture and Aristotle’s written one and the period following Guttenberg.
I’ve also noticed that some kids seem to be bored even though there are all sorts of things with which they could occupy their time. This new form of boredom comes from :too much digital stimulation” and can even “de-animate children in such a fashion as to prevent them from wanting to explore and create real-world experiences for themselves, particularly outside their rooms, houses, and schools.”
Yowsers, that is not good. Fortunately, Wolf offers some tips as to help prevent this.
These were good reads and I could write more, but I also could write other things, like a new song.
See you soon!