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When
my son was in Middle School, I was frustrated that he didn’t do his
homework. Even when I stood over him and made sure the homework was
done, he often didn’t turn it in.
I found the book, The Myth of
Laziness, by Mel Levine, M.D. , on the SGS website (http://www.sgs.org/data/files/gallery/
HandbookFiles/Parenting_Books.pdf).
In The Myth of Laziness, Dr.
Levine discusses children who aren't working up to their potential in
school, and explores the causes of their low performance. He doesn’t
believe that any child is lazy, stating that "everybody yearns to be
productive."
While this book wasn’t a magic pill to
increase homework turn-in rates, it did help this parent’s frustration
level, as well as our parent/child relationship.
Now that my child
is a Junior at the Upper School, I turned to another book listed on the
Parenting Books webpage, Letting Go, by Karen Coburn and
Madge Treeger. The focus of the book is preparing parents as their
child gets ready to go to college, but their advice about the physical
and emotional processes of letting go would have been useful even during
the transition from Middle School to Upper School. I have recommended
this book to several friends, and all of them have come back and said
how useful they found the book.
I encourage you to
check out the webpage on Parenting Books, and also want to let you know
that SGS has parenting books that are available for us to check out.
Contact Randy Bowley at the Upper School library. I want to read them
all!! To the right is the list of books currently available: |
Bode, Janet.
Truce : ending the sibling war. New York : F. Watts,
1991. Coburn, Karen Levin, 1941-. Letting go : a parents' guide
to
understanding the college years. 4th ed. [New York] :
Quill, 2003.
Green, Gordon W., Jr., Ph. D. Getting Straight A’s : a
proven system for achieving excellence in high school and college,
becoming test-wise and making the system work for you.
Gurian, Michael. A fine young man : what parents, mentors, and
educators can do to shape adolescent boys into exceptional men.
New York : Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, c1998.
Gurian, Michael. The good son : shaping the moral development of
our
boys and young men. New York : Jeremy P. Tarcher,
c1999.
Gurian, Michael. The wonder of boys : what parents, mentors, and
educators can do to shape boys into exceptional men.
New York : Putnam, c1996.
Kastner, Laura Scribner. The launching years : smart parenting
during senior year to college life. New York : Three Rivers
Press, c2002.
Kerr, Barbara A. Smart boys : talent, manhood, and the search
for
meaning.
Scottsdale, Ariz. : Gifted Psychology Press, 2001.
Kornhauser, Arthur W. How to Study : suggestions for high
school & college students.
Pollack, William
S. Real boys : rescuing our sons from the myths
of boyhood.
1st Owl Books ed. New York : Henry Holt & Company, 1999.
Popkin, Michael,
1950-. Active parenting of teens : parent's
guide.
Atlanta : Active Parenting Publishers, Inc., c1987.
Taylor, Marjorie. Imaginary companions and the children who
create
them.
New York : Oxford University Press, 1999.
Thompson, Michael, 1947-. Best friends, worst enemies :
understanding the social lives of children. 1st ed. New
York : Ballantine
Books, c2001.
Williams, Lynne H. The too precious child : the perils of being
a
super-parent and how to avoid them. New York : Atheneum,
1987.
Wiseman, Rosalind, Queen Bees & Wannabes.
Unconditional parenting: moving from rewards and punishments to love
and reason :
a talk by Alfie Kohn (DVD) |
