"Kids Today" Articles in Stanford Magazine

The July/August issue of Stanford Magazine contains a marvelous collection of articles about “Kids Today.” If you have a kid(s), you must read it. If you know people with a kid(s), you should send it to them. Certainly every mommy blogger should link to it!

Here is a partial list of the articles:

“Growing Concerns” Six faculty experts weigh in on aimless adolescents, media messages, and why raising kids really does take a village.

“Good Sports” A veteran youth coach says a winning record has nothing to do with scores. By Brian Doyle

“Put to the Test” Who is right about education reform? Two views on No Child Left Behind.

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Comments

[ROBERT]

Parenting blogger sounds great.Even kids blog must include Audio books which serves great.

[Kellys]

I loved the poem by Eavan Boland. It reminds us to take the time to just play with our kids instead of sitting them in from of the TV as mine is right now. Guess I am going to go play :)

[Jill Urbane, The Mentor Mom]

Thanks for the head up on the articles. Pertinent and interesting reading for all parents.

As an parent mentor and in-home educator, I see the isolation that so many parents feel. Gone are the days when we could ride our bikes to the local convenience store and act like a fool only to have your neighbor witness the event, tell you that you are going to be in trouble and then promptly call your parents (not that this EVER happened to me as a child).

The community helped raise the child by keeping a watchful eye on them at all times in order to keep them safe and to monitor their behavior. Cultivating such an environment in a world where many choose to look the other way is difficult, but not impossible.

[Meikah]

Very good links, Guy! I'm a mother of two growing boys, and I can so relate to the incidents here. Will definitely link! :-D

[Lea]

Ugh. My husband and I just finished a long talk about whether or not to have a second child*...and now this! And Peter's five tips, too! Great reading, though.

Baby A just turned two, but I'm already convinced of the importance of letting the "village" help raise your child. In our case, we don't have family close by, but we do have friends and fellow parents, all of whom have something important to teach our child.

I, too, see many wonderful children every day, and many parents doing their best to bring up thoughtful, aware kids. It's those people who are teaching me how to be a worthy parent.

And, yes, I call my blog a "parenting blog," even though I'm a mommy. Just seems right--though others are welcome to call themselves mommybloggers.

*upshot: We're leaning away. Great village and all.

[Peter Kua]

I especially like "Growing Concerns". It's no joke raising children, and you need to ask yourself if you're really ready and passionate about having kids. I've written a related article called "Think 5 times before having children" at http://radicalhop.com/blog/2006/07/15/think-5-times-before-having-children/

Peter Kua @ RadicalHop.com

[Mir]

I think my alumni magazine is shipped to the east coast via camel. Diseased camel. Will be impatiently tapping my fingers until it arrives, this time. Thanks for the heads up!

[Heather]

Great reading for a midnight feeding! I was hoping for a clear answer on the question of whether today's kids are lacking motivation. I see it, I read about it in books like Robert Shaw's "The Epidemic", but I also see so many good, decent, normal kids everywhere I look. Seems like Stanford's faculty see the same thing!

One thing I know for certain is it does "take a village". We moved to be close to our parents and it has been a godsend... for us, for our two children, and for the grandparents.

[The Zero Boss]

I prefer the term "parenting blogger". It does more justice to those of us who are penis-equipped.