The nurture assumption : why children turn out the way they do
"How much credit do parents deserve when their children turn out well? How much blame when they turn out badly? This book explodes some of our deepest beliefs about children and parents and gives us something radically new to put in their place. With eloquence and wit, Judith Harris explains why parents have little power to determine the sort of people their children become. It is what children experience outside the home, in the company of their peers, that matters most. Parents don't socialize children: children socialize children." "Harris looks with a fresh eye at the real lives of real children and shows that the nurture assumption is nothing more than a cultural myth. Why do the children of immigrant parents end up speaking in the language and accent of their peers, not of their parents? Why are twins reared together no more alike than twins raised apart? Why does a boy who spends his first eight years with a nanny and his next ten years in boarding school nevertheless turn out just like his father? The nurture assumption cannot provide an answer to these questions. Judith Harris can." "Through no fault of their own, good parents sometimes have bad kids. Harris offers parents wise counsel on what they can and cannot do, and relief from guilt for those whose best efforts have somehow failed to produce a happy, well-behaved, self-confident child."--Jacket
xviii, 462 pages ; 25 cm
9780684844091, 0684844095
39368588
Nurture is not the same as environment
The nature (and nurture) of the evidence
Nature, nurture, and none of the above
Separate worlds
Other times, other places
Human nature
Us and them
In the company of children
The transmission of culture
Gender rules
Schools of children
Growing up
Dysfunctional families and problem kids
What parents can do
The nurture assumption on trial