Notes on NurtureShock by Po Bronson

I just finished reading NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children by Po Bronson. I heard about it via another parenting author, Janet Lansbury.

I found it had a lot of overlap with books like The Whole Brain Child. I still found it interesting and enjoyed the survey of various scientific studies done that question common beliefs about parenting. I also enjoyed how it reinforced how many of the practices of our parents, grandparents, and many past generations still make sense and why (and which ones don't).

My full notes on the book, which are somewhat minimal this time, are below.

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Intro

​1 inverse power of praise
Stop saying “you’re so smart”
Fixed versus growth mindset
Praise needs to be specific and sincere with no hidden agenda
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2 the lost hour
Less sleep lowers IQ and causes disease
Weekend shift of sleep late reduces IQ
One hour less of sleep drops intelligence level by 1-2 grade levels
Sleep consolidates memories and learnings during sleep

3 why white parents don’t talk about race
4 why kids lie

5 search for intelligent life in kindergarten
Entrance tests to gifted or private schools

6 sibling effect
7 teen building

8 can self control be taught
Tools of the mind preschool program
Learning to set a weekly and daily play plan and writing it down
Buddy reading
Correcting own work with partner

9 plays well with others
Importance of pretend play for learning symbolic reasoning 

10 why one talks and another doesn’t
Baby videos don’t teach talking
Key is how live parent responds to child’s vocalizations
Vocal turn taking
Parentese

Conclusion
Myth of supertrait
Importance of gratitude
But studies show gratitude journals don’t help
Fallacy of similar effect: things work differently for adults than kids
Fallacy of good bad dichotomy: not so clear cut what’s good or bad for kids