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Parentology: Everything You Wanted To Know About The Science Of Raising Children But Were Too Exhausted To Ask (2014)

by Dalton Conley(Favorite Author)

3.16 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

1476712654 (ISBN13: 9781476712659)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Simon & Schuster

review 1: This is Conley blovating about the parenting choices he made for his own two children, with lots of citations thrown in (and sometimes thrown around and thrown out). It's like Mormons citing General Authorities to support small-time, personal-favorite doctrines: you can find some source to support whatever conclusion you've already come to.It got bad and then worse, ending with drugging a kid to keep him in industrial compulsory schooling (private school, in this case, for anyone keeping track). It's short; nevertheless, we considered abandoning it before it was over. When it was I was glad.
review 2: This memoir is a quick-read, with some interesting snippets (none especially easily excerpted here) on research around child-rearing, from a sociologist whose oth... moreer work I've also read. Most compelling, I think, was the discussion of the extent of measurement error on intelligence when done for young children (the younger, the bigger the error). And that the main parenting approach that "works" is continued investment of time and emotion, which is both intimidating and reassuring! Ultimately, Conley's approach to parenting is a bit too off-the-beaten-path for me (e.g. giving his kids unconventional names as a way of teaching them impulse control, because they're made fun of), but nonetheless it's thought-provoking around some of the conventional wisdom. That said, this book is more memoir than it is a thorough discussion of sociological research around parenting, and as such, is an enjoyable read but not earth shattering. (Having given birth in a woman's hospital, where easily 95% of what they do is pregnancy-related, it is very strange to read descriptions of waiting in triage while in labor--both in this book and in Expecting Better, which I read immediately prior to this one.) less

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