The Price of Privilege - Part 3 of 4

PART THREE – PARENTING FOR AUTONOMY

Part three opens with an introduction to University of California research psychologist Dr. Diana Baumrind who is noted for her work on the impact of parenting styles on child development. “Her central concern has always been to identify those parenting strategies that are most likely to turn out autonomous children, children who are independent, capable, and loving.”

See my October 22 post, “What is Your Parenting Style” for more information specific to Dr. Baumrind’s work.

Some notable points from Levine in Part 3:

• Promoting guilt and shame invariably works against progress—and, more importantly, they weaken the ties between child and parent.
• The disturbing sense of entitlement so often observed in affluent kids is partly an outgrowth of parents’ efforts to elevate their child’s sense of self with persistent praise. See Dweck posts “Mindset: Dr. Carol Dweck Part 3” (1/2/09), “Dweck on Intelligence” (7/10/08), and “Getting to Know Dr. Carol Dweck” (4/18/08).
• Levine gives an informative look at what parent options are [for example] when your 12-year old child gets a poor grade on a math test.
• There are good insights on parents being the “bad cop,” firmness, letting your kids know when you mean business, containment, flexibility, and the difference between being in control and being controlling.

Get to know Dr. Levine by viewing her interview about the book.



The green highlights throughout the four posts represent comments made in the book that are akin to the Montessori philosophy and the red highlights are not akin to the Montessori philosophy.