Details

Nurture the Nature

Understanding and Supporting Your Child's Unique Core Personality
1. Aufl.

von: Michael Gurian
10,99 €
Verlag:	Wiley
Format:	PDF
Veröffentl.:	10.04.2007
ISBN/EAN:	9780787995270
Sprache:	englisch
Anzahl Seiten:	368

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Beschreibungen

Titelbeschreibung

From Michael Gurian, the best-selling author of The Minds of Boys and The Wonder of Girls, comes the next-step book that shows how any parent can tune into a child’s unique core personality, hard wiring, temperament, and genetic predisposition in order to help that child flourish and thrive. Based on the most recent brain research, Nurture the Nature features the Ten Tips for Nurturing the Nature of Your Baby, self-tests, checklists, and many other tools for you to help your kids get exactly the kind of support they need, from infants to adolescents. While offering positive ideas for nurturing your child, Gurian also shows how to avoid the stress, pressures, and excessive competition of what he identifies as social trends parenting. Most parents know instinctively that their child is unique and has special potential, weaknesses, and strengths. No child is a blank slate. Gurian calls on parents to turn away from one-size-fits-all approaches and instead support the individual core nature of a child with effective and customized loving care.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Understanding Your Own and Your Child’s Core Nature: An Observation Tool vii Acknowledgments xv Introduction: Rediscovering Our Children 1 Your Child’s Nature 5 Nurture the Nature of Your Child 7 Essential Parenting 12 A Special Feature for Moms and Dads with Newborns: Ten Tips for Nurturing the Nature of Your Baby 15 Part One Protecting the Nature of Your Child 19 1 Escaping the Social Trends Parenting System 21 What is Chronic Stress in the American Family? 24 The Social Trends Parenting System 32 Nurturing Your Child’s Nature 37 Getting Started 39 2 Understandinging the Core Nature of Your Child 43 Using Nature-Based Theory in Your Family 46 The Myth of the Blank Slate Child 47 Eight New Sciences That Can Help You Understand Your Child’s Core Nature 52 Creating a Profile of Your Child’s Core Nature 63 Your Essential Parenting Blueprint 77 “Who Am I?” 78 Part Two Nurturing the Nature of Your Child 83 3 Nurturing the Nature of Your Infant 85 Preview of Essential Developmental Tasks 86 Information Essential to Nurturing the Core Nature of Your Infant 87 Natural Differences Between Infant Boys and Girls 92 A Revolution in Parenting 94 Essential Mothers, Essential Fathers 95 Parents-Beyond-Parents 100 The Importance of the Mother-Infant Bond 104 Burning Question: Can Vaccinations Harm My Infant? 112 Parenting as a Spiritual Discipline 113 4 Nurturing the Nature of Your Two- to Three-Year-Old 116 Preview of Essential Developmental Tasks 117 Information Essential to Nurturing the Core Nature of Your Toddler 117 Natural Differences Between Toddler Girls and Boys 121 The Importance of Play, Order, and Discipline 125 Self-Awareness of Your Own Core Nature 132 Burning Question: How Do I Handle Tantrums? 133 “She Was a Handful!” 136 5 Nurturing the Nature of Your Four- to Six-Year-Old 138 Preview of Essential Developmental Tasks 141 Information Essential to Nurturing the Core Nature of Your Four- to Six-Year-Old 142 Natural Differences Between Boys and Girls Age Four to Six 146 Handling Sibling Rivalry 148 Helping Your Self-Educating Child Ask, “Who Am I?” 151 Redefining Food, Shelter, and Clothing 156 Burning Question: How Do I Find the Best School for My Four- to Six-Year-Old? 162 Moving Forward with Both Peace and Excitement 166 6 Nurturing the Nature of Your Seven- to Ten-Year-Old 170 Preview of Essential Developmental Tasks 171 Information Essential to Nurturing the Core Nature of Your Seven- to Ten-Year-Old 172 Natural Differences Between School-Age Girls and Boys 175 Focusing on the Art of Relationship to Protect Your Child’s Core Nature 178 Protecting a Child’s Core Nature by Creating Symbiotic Marriage or Symbiotic Divorce 182 Burning Question: How Much Media is Too Much? 193 The Courage of Parents 197 Part Three Nurturing the Nature of Your Adolescent 201 7 Nurturing the Nature of Your Eleven- to Fourteen-Year-Old 203 Preview of Essential Developmental Tasks 205 Information Essential to Nurturing the Core Nature of Your Pubescent Child 206 Natural Differences Between Early Adolescent Boys and Girls 211 Helping Your Pubescent Child Through Early Adolescent Adaptations of Core Nature 214 Joining Together to Link Fathers and Men to Early Adolescents 221 Burning Question: How Do I Protect My Early Adolescent’s Self-Esteem? 226 Moving Forward with Pride 231 8 Nurturing the Nature of Your Fifteen- to Eighteen-Year-Old 235 Preview of Essential Developmental Tasks 238 Information Essential to Nurturing the Core Nature of Your Middle Adolescent 239 Natural Differences Between Middle Adolescent Girls and Boys 244 Adapting Your Family to Accommodate Your Middle Adolescent’s Individuation of Core Nature 247 Helping Adolescents Through Crisis 254 Burning Question: What is the Best Way to Handle Peer Groups? 261 Becoming a Woman, Becoming a Man 267 9 Nurturing the Nature of Your Adolescent of Nineteen and Older 271 Preview of Essential Developmental Tasks 273 Information Essential to Nurturing the Core Nature of Your Late Adolescent 274 Natural Differences Between Young Men and Young Women 277 Identifying and Helping Young Men and Young Women Who Lack a Mission in Life 282 Burning Question: Why are Young People Maturing So Much Later Than We Did? 293 The Mission in Life 295 Epilogue 299 Appendixes A: Principles of Nature-Based Families 301 B: Tracking Your Child’s Core Personality Through Genetics: How to Draw and Understand a Genogram 303 C: More Help with Food, Shelter, and Clothing: A Discussion Starter for Parent Groups 307 Notes and References 311 Bibliography 337 The Gurian Institute 341 About the Author 343 Index 345

Rezension

Noted author Gurian (The Wonder of Boys) here advocates that parents reject what he calls the "social trends parenting system"-i.e., following popular parenting fads-and instead focus on the unique talents, proclivities, and temperaments with which children are born. He spends a good deal of the book laying out the scientific aspects of personality and temperament, delving into recent brain research that, for instance, shows how gender and other factors play a role in personality development. While Gurian's overall message is worthy, many parents may find some of his recommendations confusing and even alarming. He seems to advocate for specialized medical tests, such as brain scans and blood tests, in the absence of any real reason for performing them, treating them as tools to help parents better understand a child's "core nature." His use of that term itself is problematic, as it sometimes refers to personality and other times to medical issues. His statements about certain areas of research and popular culture are also inaccurate, e.g., he misunderstands the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, equating shyness with introversion. Still, parents may be able to take away the important and liberating idea that knowing your child is the best parenting advice of all. Fans of Gurian's other books will be pleased; those who want to understand better how personality affects child development would be better served by Elizabeth Murphy's The Developing Child. —Rachel Davis, Thomas Memorial Lib., Cape Elizabeth, ME (Library Journal, May 1, 2007) Family therapist Gurian (The Wonder of Girls) approaches his nature-based theme from a slightly different angle in his latest work, urging parents to buck "social trends parenting" and make decisions based on the core personality of their individual child. A researcher of brain science and gender differences, Gurian believes that much of a child's behavior is inborn from the start. But Gurian sees a disturbing trend in parents' increasing willingness to disregard their own instincts, letting media and society-driven fads dictate the way they raise their kids. In his own "clinical detective work," he has found that children are becoming bogged down by activity overload and the "material anxiety" that arises from trying to keep up with the latest designer fads or electronic gadgets. Gurian presents an in-depth, chapter-by-chapter analysis of child development, beginning at infancy and ending in early adulthood. Gurian's presentation is comprehensive and peppered with fascinating facts (i.e., how pheromones of biological fathers affect the onset of girls' puberty or how parts of a toddler's brain actually swell during a tantrum). The author's new text will help parents begin, in the tradition of Maria Montessori, to "follow the child," rather than adapt their kids to a contemporary one-size-fits-all mold.(May) (Publishers Weekly, April 2, 2007)

Autorenportrait

Michael Gurian is a family therapist and the New York Times best-selling author of The Wonder of Boys, The Wonder of Girls, The Good Son, Boys and Girls Learn Differently! and The Minds of Boys, among many others. He is cofounder of the Gurian Institute and a pioneer in the fields of family development, education, and gender studies. He has appeared on Today, Good Morning America, CNN, NPR, and in the New York Times, USA Today, Time, Newsweek, and elsewhere.

Back cover copy

From Michael Gurian, the best-selling author of The Minds of Boys and The Wonder of Girls, comes the next-step book that shows how any parent can tune into a child's unique core personality, hard wiring, temperament, and genetic predisposition in order to help that child flourish and thrive. PRAISE FOR Nurture the Nature "Gurian's presentation is comprehensive and peppered with fascinating facts (i.e., how pheromones of biological fathers affect the onset of girls' puberty or how parts of a toddler's brain actually swell during a tantrum). The author's new text will help parents begin, in the tradition of Maria Montessori, to 'follow the child,' rather than adapt their kids to a contemporary one-size-fits-all mold."—Publishers Weekly "As scientifically sound as it is humane." —HAROLD S. KOPLEWICZ, M.D., chairman, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, New York University School of Medicine, and founder and director, New York University Child Study Center "Nurture the Nature is thorough, thoughtful, accurate, and brilliant. The science is sound and well researched." —DANIEL AMEN, M.D., author, Making a Good Brain Great "Nurture the Nature should be mandatory reading for parents who want their children to mature into happy, healthy human beings—which is of course all of us!" —DR. TRACEY J. SHORS, Department of Psychology, Center for Collaborative Neuroscience, Rutgers University

Unpublished endorsement

"As scientifically sound as it is humane." —Harold S. Koplewicz, M.D., chairman, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, New York University School of Medicine, and founder and director, New York University Child Study Center "Nurture the Nature is thorough, thoughtful, accurate, and brilliant. The science is sound and well researched." —Daniel Amen, M.D., author, Making a Good Brain Great "Michael Gurian has once again produced a magnificent book on children, this one showing us how to appreciate and indeed capitalize on the unique nature within each child. Nurture the Nature should be mandatory reading for parents who want their children to mature into happy, healthy human beings—which is of course all of us!" —Dr. Tracey J. Shors, Department of Psychology, Center for Collaborative Neuroscience, Rutgers University "Nurture the Nature is up-to-the-minute, filled with wisdom, and an intensely moral book, concerned with helping a child develop a sense of purpose in life, and promoting self-reliance and self-discipline in children. Both as a mother and a psychologist, I could not put this book down!" —Judith Kleinfeld, professor of psychology, University of Alaska, and national director of The Boys Project "As a parent myself, I believe one of the greatest challenges to parenting well is to see who your individual child really is. Nurture the Nature gives parents the ability to do just that—and to understand?the complex issues that shape our children today." —Rosalind Wiseman, author, Queen Bees and Wannabes "A wealth of practical advice on how to escape the competitive pressure of social trends parenting and instead nurture the core nature of your child." —Michele Borba, Ed.D., author, 12 Simple Secrets Real Moms Know and Building Moral Intelligence