Trusting our children with their own lives

A couple of weeks ago, I took time off to attend classes, including one from Dr. William Stixrud, the neuropsychologist who trained me to work with children and teens with and without learning differences.

Bill is co-author of “The Self-Driven Child: The Science and Sense of Giving Kids More Control Over Their Lives,” published in 2018.

Last I heard, the book had been published in 17 languages. Bill told us during the class that in China, a video based on the book has been downloaded 40 million times.

Bill says in the book and everywhere else that, in addition to unconditional love, the best gift we can give our children is to tell them, “I have confidence in your ability to make informed decisions about your own life and to learn from your mistakes.”

Here is my Citizen Cartwright item on the book in 2018.

And here is a video of Bill and his co-author Ned Johnson discussing the book at Washington’s Politics and Prose book store.

On Tuesday, Bill and Ned published their third book, a workbook titled “The Seven Principles for Raising a Self-Driven Child.”