Children 'Learn Most From Peers Not Parents'

The Telgraph (UK) ^ | 4-26-2007 | Graeme Paton

[blam]

I learned what was right & wrong from my mother...my father added the discipline.

[SevenofNine]

What hell that shrink smoking I don’t know about Brit children my mom handle the disciple LOL! I know what right and wrong

[mylife]

This shrink is a doofus.

We learn from everthing and one of the things we generally learn is that our parents care more about our well being than our peers

[rlmorel]

"...Judith Rich Harris, an American psychologist..."

'Nuff said.

[LibFreeOrDie]

A different opinion:

“Kids with religious parents are better behaved and adjusted than other children, according to a new study that is the first to look at the effects of religion on young child development.”

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1822701/posts

[bremenboy]

Parents who heap attention on their children and spend hours teaching them the difference between right and wrong have only a small effect on their long-term development, according to a leading psychologist.

It is most apparent that his parents didn't teach him anything for he turn out a kook

[Izzy Dunne]

"Though relationships with parents greatly affect the day-to-day happiness of children, just as marital relationships greatly affect the day-to-day happiness of adults, neither leaves deep marks on the personality. In the long run, it is what happens to them outside the parental home that makes children turn out the way they do."

I tried to keep my temper down during the whole thing, but this takes the cake.

The idea that parents don't "leave a deep mark on the personality" of a child is ludicrous from top to bottom.

Maybe this dimwit never thought of the idea that part of a parent's job is to manage (to some degree) the "outside influences" affecting their kid.

[Pantera]

"Parents who heap attention on their children and spend hours teaching them the difference between right and wrong have only a small effect on their long-term development, according to a leading psychologist."

BS.

[Draco]

Didn’t see in the article whether this esteemed psychologist actually raised any children. She is good at parroting political points. “All studies show ....” Psychological studies never are so uniform. BS ALERT/

[operation clinton cleanup]

Children 'learn most from peers not parents'

I think that is true, depending on the relationship between the kids and the parents. Just to be safe, my parents "chose" which kids I could hang out with when I was a pre-teen.

[mplsconservative]

So this ditz implies it’s not worthwhile to instill a love of God and teach our children morals?

She’s pushing the ‘nature, not nuture’ agenda.

I volunteer in my son’s classroom and I can tell which children have been nurtured and those that have been left to ‘nature’. It’s a little bit like herding feral cats.

That said, it’s very sad. A little love and direction could avoid the loss of such human potential.

[Marie]

He’s right... that is if kids spend most of their waking moments with their peers. I know the 7 years I spent homeschooling had a huge impact on my kids. My daughter’s proud that she’s “going against the grain” at school now.

[docbnj]

I have great respect for Mrs. Harris. She may be partly right. Note that she actually said that the best teachibng of children can be undone if they are allowed to mix with bad kids when they are very young. So, good parents try to keep their children away from bad company, and they should continue to do so.

I know that my own upbringing very much influenced my standards for behavior, and made me recognize bad kids when I met up with them. Besides, I was a leader, and made most of the other kids follow my example. Somehow I avoided fights without getting pushed around, and was friendly with everyone, and I became popular. I was alwasy taught to do what was right, and most of the time I followed the pattern set by my elders.

My own children were raised the same way, and are successful, with good behavior and a happy, ambitious lifestyle. Both are happily married, and both had excellent judgment in picking spouses. The grandchildren are also doing very well.

Part of the way children turn out is luck. A bigger part is how you do your job as a parent. Don’t give up. Study your duties as a parent as hard as if it were a job, because it is. Remember that love is the secret ingrediant, but love never means abandoning standards and foolishly giving in to a child’s instinctively uncivilized tendencies.

[doc1019]

Although my peers had a great influence on my day-to-day response to the adult world, my loving, understanding and (did I say loving) parents good sense had a much longer lasting effect on my life.

[geopyg]

I was about to say, my kids (9 and 12) don’t like to hang out with kids that swear, etc. So, hopefully at a young age and knowing what is right to do they will continue to hang out with kids with like minds. Plus, keeping involved with them to a degree at school helps a lot I think. although I’m not that naive to think they won’t get in trouble form time to time.

[Rembrandt]

This article is unmitigated hogwash. A child’s values are formed during the first couple of years of life.

Conservative, caring, strict parents - the kid will do fine in school regardless of his peers.

Liberal, whiny parents who let the kids do as s/he chooses -his/her peers will take him/her along on their ride.

Why is it so difficult for intellectuals to put a value on values?

[Politicalmom]

Somehow I don’t think their friends have turned my children into Young (Conservative) Republicans at ages 13 and 11.

Heck, even my four year old’s favorite insult is “YOU LIBERAL!!”

[ken21]

scary, but true.

i grew up on a remote farm

and when i arrived at the university

i couldn’t understand why my generation was given to

socialismo.

si.

one roommate thought kuba was better than the u.s.a. his father was a boston m.d.

[ThomasThomas]

Kids learn the most from the people who care for them. Time spent with a child is not wasted. If a parent dosen’t teacher their child they will find someone else.

[aruanan]

Children 'Learn Most From Peers Not Parents'

Your peers are the people you're around most of the time. You learn to be like those around whom you spend most of your time. If you, as a child, spend most of your time with a bunch of clueless classmates, you'll probably be as clueless as the rest. However, if you spend most of your time interacting with adults, especially adults who hold you to standards, who help you to learn to think, then you'll more likely than not be like them. This was traditionally the basis of education, training, and enculturation for thousands of years. It was only later, in the 20th century, when the so-called "peer teaching" fad was spawned that things started their slide down the tubes.