This book has been recommended to me by several people, and I finally have gotten it. I am going to keep notes here on the ol' blog, in case anyone else is interested.
In chapter one, Mr. Levine states that kids have different kinds of minds that excel at different kinds of things, and that after years of working with children struggling to make their round minds fit into square pegs, he feels a lot of compassion for these children. He is a pediatrician who works in clinical programs and schools with "unsuccessful children."
The book is based on his observation of the kids he has worked with over the last thirty years. He states in the book, "Although I follow the research in the field very closely, I think it appropriate to write this book based purely on objective clinical observation.." So there are a lot of anecdotes and stories about kids and their struggles.
He makes the point that as adults we understand that we cannot be expert in every area; however, we expect our children to be good at everything. There may be some validity in this expectation, but Mr. Levine doesn't think so. I tend to think that if we attempt to strengthen our kids' weaknesses when they are children, they will be better equipped adults.
He is very concerned that children not be set up for failure, and I agree with him there. In the introduction, he seems to be pushing for children to learn only in their areas of strength, but as I have gotten deeper into the book, I see that this is not the case.
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