An NPR Science Desk correspondent challenges the misleading child-rearing practices commonly recommended to parents, outlining alternatives grounded in international ancestral traditions that are being used effectively throughout the modern world.
When Doucleff became a mother, she found the evidence behind modern parenting guidance frustratingly limited, and the conclusions often ineffective. She turned to parenting strategies from families in three of the world's most venerable communities: Maya families in Mexico, Inuit families above the Arctic Circle, and Hadzabe families in Tanzania. Here she shares the strategies she observed firsthand-- and reveals a universal parenting paradigm adapted for American families -- adapted from jacket.