No Best Way to Parent, No Best Way to Teach

That child-rearing theories have swung back and forth between parents as disciplinarians and bonding with their children, between child-centered and parent-centered is obvious to today’s middle-age Moms and Dads who think but a moment about their parents and grand-parents. Psychologists and novelists have taught us a great deal about child-raising practices and how children’s growth physically, emotionally, and intellectually can flourish or get stunted. Still, uncertainty hovers over what are best practices for parents today. The current mantra among educated elites is to build your children’s self-esteem and make them into happy adults which might explain past media furor erupting among those same elites over Amy Chua’s Tiger Mom recipe for high-performing, anxious, and successful daughters. That furor confirms that even now certified experts can not tell parents how to raise their children. Because parental values of what constitutes a good life, character, and behavior drive…