by Gwen Dewar, Ph.D. posted in Mom Stories
New parents get lots of advice, and self-appointed parenting experts often claim that their advice is supported by science. How can you tell if they are right?
There isn’t any simple answer. Like defendants in a court room, each claim must be judged on its own merits. But when I hear about the latest tips or trends, I’m sensitive to certain red flags. These red flags don’t mean that the advice is bad or wrong. But they tell me that the people pushing the advice are have built their case on potentially shaky ground.
So here are my favorite red flags: Six popular — but questionable — reasons people cite in favor of their parenting causes.
Read flag #1: “Experiments tell us that special training for babies and toddlers – flash cards, early literacy training, preschool academic instruction, et cetera – will improve a young child’s brain development.”
Lots of programs and products are getting sold based on claims of this kind. But what does the evidence really say? The experiments in question were on rats, and researchers tested the effects of two sorts of living conditions: Living in an empty cage, and living in a cage with a few toys and companions. The rats living in the “enriched” conditions developed more neural connections and bigger brains (larger cerebral cortices).
That’s fascinating research, but it doesn’t tell us that your child’s brain will get bigger if he attends an academic preschool or gets drilled with flashcards. If your child inhabits the real world—with sympathetic people and interesting objects to explore – he’s getting far more “enrichment” than any of the rats did in these experiments. To date, there is no evidence that adding flash cards will have any special benefits on brain development. But there is evidence that early academics can backfire.
4. Red flag #2: “This advice must be good. My mother followed it, and look how I turned out.”
Most people realize there is a problem with this reasoning: A sample size of one person is hardly a reliable guide for the whole population. But even if you apply this reasoning to millions of people (e.g., “Everybody did this in the 1950s, and they all turned out well…”) you still have been problems. First, how can you tell what part of the outcome is attributable to the parenting practice, as opposed to a hundred other things? And second, how do you know that these people wouldn’t have turned out even better if their parents had done something else? That’s what controlled studies are for.
Red flag #3: “If you don’t follow this advice, your child will suffer dire consequences.”
This claim pops up everywhere, among people of all sorts of different political persuasions. Some advocates of authoritarian parenting claim your kids will become shiftless, immoral losers if you don’t regiment their lives. Other people tell us that our children will suffer brain damage if use “cry it out” techniques at home. The truth? Most evidence suggests that authoritarian parenting doesn’t foster self-reliance or advanced moral development. On the contrary. And while I have serious reservations about “cry it out” tactics — which you can read about here — there haven’t yet been any rigorous studies addressing the long-term effects.
Bottom line: When people cite dire consequences, they’re usually letting their emotions (and good intentions) color their judgment. Put on your skepticism hat and check those scientific claims.
Red flag #4: “Follow this advice because Sigmund Freud said so.”
Freud has had a powerful influence on many people. But he didn’t conduct rigorous scientific research, and he conceived his theories without any modern knowledge of cognitive development and the brain. So while his ideas might inspire us to ask questions, they shouldn’t be used as principles for child-rearing. Example: Freud has led many people think early toilet training will make children neurotic or disturbed, when in fact there is no scientific evidence supporting that claim.
5. Red flag #5: “Follow this parenting practice because it is natural.”
Is it really? What does that mean? Humans tend to think that whatever customs they grew up with are “natural.” But that doesn’t mean they are human universals. We might make the case that contemporary hunter-gatherer parenting practices are the most “natural,” in the sense that they come closer than anyone else does to the life-ways of our ancestors. And because we were hunter-gatherers for most of human history, understanding hunter-gatherer life-ways can help us put our modern practices into context.
But does this mean we should imitate hunter-gatherers in every respect? No. Understanding hunter-gatherer practices is a good starting point, but it shouldn’t be the only consideration.
6. Red flag #6: “This advice is terrific because Dr. So-and-so endorses it.”
Whenever the primary selling point is an expert’s recommendation, you need to ask yourself: Who is this expert, what are his credentials, and – most importantly – on what evidence does he make his recommendation? Is he trained to analyze scientific studies? Does he base his endorsement on a careful review of the research? It’s amazing to me how many expert opinions don’t meet this standard.
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More reading
For more talk about the perils of parenting advice, see my recent post “Parenting ‘experts’ who are full of baloney.” And if you’re looking for an antidote to all that questionable advice, check out my website, Parenting Science. I offer fully-referenced analysis of the published scientific research. So you can weigh the evidence and decide for yourself.
Read more from source:“babycenter-com-baby”
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