Parenting for Empowerment and Success

3min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

Parents should empower their children to learn skills by explaining and guiding them instead of doing things for them. Parents should delight in their children's learning and focus on teaching them basic skills, such as public transportation or cooking. Parents should avoid treating their children as a project to perfect for their own egos and instead focus on setting them up for success and allow them to make mistakes. Parents' insecurities can negatively impact their children, and they should prioritize their own mental health to be better parents.

Whether it’s grades and test scores, cushy jobs or big salaries, our ideas of “success” tend to be incredibly narrow and often start incredibly early. Julie Lythcott-Haims is a New York Times bestselling author and former Dean of Freshmen at Stanford, and she is dedicated to helping people reconsider what really makes a happy, “successful” adult. Julie shares wisdom for parents and anyone who has been parented on why it’s crucial to question societal expectations, how to find your own path and why empathy towards yourself and others are the true key to loving who you’ll grow up to be. For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/BHTranscripts