Piece Description
The Nadya Suleman case in California has ignited a new debate over parenting in America.
Joining us on Active Voice Radio today is Harvard psychologist Richard Weissbourd who argues incisively that parents?not peers or popular culture?are the primary shapers of their children’s moral lives.
Goldstein addresses the issues of modern parenting with Weissbourd and asks:
- What matters more the quality of parenting or who is doing it?
- How do parents morally regress?
- What are the signs parents should look for to guide them in better parenting on morality?
The book follows Weissbourd's own original field research, including hundreds of rich, revealing conversations with children, parents, teachers, and coaches. He suggests that "parents intense focus on their children’s happiness is turning many children into self-involved, fragile conformists. "
Richard Weissbourd is a child and family psychologist on the faculty of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and School of Education. He is the author of The Vulnerable Child, recently named by the American School board Journal as one of the top ten education books of all time.