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Scientific Secrets for Raising Kids Who Thrive

By: Peter M. Vishton, The Great Courses
Narrated by: Peter M. Vishton
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Summary

Parenting advice isn't hard to find. There are thousands of books on the subject, as well as a multitude of websites. Much has also been written on the science of child development. What's been lacking, however, are sources of reliable advice that bring together the scientific research and its real-world applications.

This course bridges the divide. In 24 engaging lectures, an expert in the cognitive development of early childhood presents what scientific research has revealed about the things parents can actively do to promote children’s long-term development right from birth. Professor Vishton delivers a wealth of practical tips to help children reach their full potential intellectually, emotionally, physically, and socially. And he supports it all with findings culled from the latest scientific literature.

You’ll touch on topics across all areas of childrearing, from sleep and nutrition to behavior and academics. And you’ll get answers to many of the most common parenting questions:

  • Should I sleep-train my baby by letting her “cry it out”?
  • Should I let my infant, toddler, or child watch TV-and if so, how much?
  • Should I allow my child to play video games?
  • Should I pressure my picky eater to finish her vegetables?
  • Should I spank my child when he misbehaves?

In addition to learning methods for laying an early foundation in subjects such as math and reading, you’ll gain information for boosting your children’s overall cognitive abilities-and even their IQ scores.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2014 The Great Courses; 2014 The Teaching Company, LLC
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What listeners say about Scientific Secrets for Raising Kids Who Thrive

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Enjoyed.

Full of common sense, research based advice for better parenting.
Highly recommended. Food for thought.

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Perfect...

Would you consider the audio edition of Scientific Secrets for Raising Kids Who Thrive to be better than the print version?

There aren't many things to say about the book. The lecturer is amazing and the content is detailed but easy to listen to. It's a pleasure to listen to the whole course and recommended to all parents, would-be parents, caregivers and any other people working with children.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No... take your time to assimilate all the ideas.

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8 people found this helpful

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Provides a good insight to raising kids.

a good insight into raising kids in the 21st century. provides good evidence based ideas too.

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2 people found this helpful

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Great book, don't hesitate.

I loved it. Wish I had the chance to listen to it earlier. It's very engaging too you won't feel bored or disconnected while listening.

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Lots of great (albeit many common sense) tips but a few issues for me

In general I found this course very informative. I liked the fact the it kept coming back to the scientific method and that many tips are supported by scientific studies.

However, there are many things the lecturer says that are assumptions and “and if the science says this then you’d imagine that it follows that....” which rather goes against the whole scientific backing thing the course has going on. This made it relatively confusing as to which tips were based on actual scientific studies and which were not.

On a similar note, he mentions that scientific studies are only good if done with a large enough sample size, and that repeatability is key to being trustworthy, and that meta analyses are valuable too. This is all great, and many times he mentions the tips where a given study had a large sample size or was based on a meta analysis or had been repeated many times, but I got the feeling that on others this was not mentioned - or not stressed. Again, this makes me wonder as to how well-supported those tips are by the science.

I think that the supporting PDF is really useful and a very nice touch. I haven’t had much chance to read it properly yet but from what I can see it’s simply the same content that the lecturer goes through but in (somewhat verbose) bullet point form, which is handy to have as a reference. It’s a shame the list of tips he runs down in the last chapter aren’t included in the PDF, however! That list was super handy as a reminder but all I have is the audio and therefore a few “clips” of that section I made to remember it by.

All scientific references are given in the PDF broken down by chapter (not quite by individual “tip” - that would have been far better), which is great. But it’d have been nice, going back to my earlier issue with the science, if the references included the ways to evaluate the studies - sample size, repeatability, etc. so we don’t have to go and read/buy them all to just know that the knowledge gleaned is solid.

One other thing I noticed is that a lot of the content was US-centric. And not just the studies, but the general advice. It wasn’t the worst thing ever, and not worth dropping a star over or anything, but things like mentioning ASL as opposed to simply a sign language, and there was mention of junior varsity and varsity team sports. Maybe this is my lack of knowledge but using more inclusive terms here (he could have just said main team and second team or something like that to make it more inclusive. He did tend to stick to talking about ages of children but did occasionally slip into school “grades” (which, again, is somewhat US-centric, and required a conversion step).

Overall though, I’m happy with the course and the nuggets I have taken away from it. It’s especially nice to have advice that’s not just anecdotal, etc. and at least has some basis in science.

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5 people found this helpful

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Critically reviewed evidence based but non judging

Loved these practical recommendations and especially the non judging way it was represented. I have already started to implement them

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1 person found this helpful

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Great listen so much useful information provided and an easy listen while cleaning

Very enjoyable would listen again and again.
5 stars overall. Now to select my next audible

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Good stuff

I already knew say half of these but that l's not the point. The author is thorough and personable and the whole thing was enjoyable and informative.

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Quite good but beware of gender equal language

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I found the book quite good but mainly targeted at parents of quite small children. Also the gender equal language, randomly using he or she for the child, got a bit on my nerves.The second to last chapter was about immunisations and the way he generalised this one misinterpreted study raised my hairs, because I have a lot of opinions about many immunisations, ranging from essential to not necessary. The simplyfied aproach to his recommendation here made me wonder how valid the other recommendations were.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Scientific Secrets for Raising Kids Who Thrive?

The one chapter about teens.

Would you listen to another book narrated by Professor Peter M. Vishton?

Definitely not right away, because of the he/she approach, but not a definite no, he is not the best narrator in the world, but ok.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, it is divided in lectures and more than two or three in one go is two much.

Any additional comments?

Targeted at parents of children up to the age of 10 I would say.

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On point

The course is really interesting. The part about nutrition " calories in calories out" is false. Do your own research about nutrition.

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