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Nurture the Nature:
Understanding and Supporting
Your Child's Unique Core Personality
"In
NURTURE THE NATURE, Michael Gurian
presents an in-depth,
chapter-by-chapter analysis of child development, beginning at infancy
and ending in early adulthood. Gurian's
presentation is comprehensive
and peppered with fascinating facts. The author's new text will help
parents begin, in the tradition of Maria Montessori, to "follow the
child," rather than adapt their kids to a contemporary
one-size-fits-all mold."
—
Publisher's
Weekly, May 2007
¤
"(Nurture the Nature is) important and liberating...knowing your child
is the best parenting advice of all."
— Library Journal, May
2007
¤
"Nurture the Nature is as scientifically sound as it is humane.."
— Harold Koplewicz,
M.D., Chairman, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, New York
University
¤
"Nurture the Nature is thorough, thoughtful, accurate, and brilliant.
The science is sound and well researched."
— Daniel Amen, M.D.,
author, Making a Good Brain Great
¤
"Michael Gurian
has once again produced a magnificent book on children,
this one showing us how to appreciate and indeed capitalize on the
unique nature within each child. Nurture the Nature should be mandatory
reading for parents who want their children to mature into happy
healthy human beings which is of course all of us!"
—
Dr.
Tracey J. Shors, department of psychology, Center for Collaborative
Neuroscience, Rutgers University
¤
"Nurture the Nature is up-to-the-minute, filled with wisdom, and an
intensely moral book, concerned with helping a child develop a sense of
purpose in life, and promoting self-reliance and self-discipline in
children. Both as a mother and a psychologist, I could not
put this book down!"
— Judith Kleinfeld,
professor of psychology, University of Alaska, and national director of
The Boys Project
¤
"As a parent myself, I believe one of the greatest challenges to
parenting well is to see who your individual child really is.
Nurture the Nature gives parents the ability to do just that--and to
understand the complex issues that shape our children today."
—
Rosalind
Wiseman, author of QUEEN BEES AND WANNABES
¤
"A wealth of practical advice on how to escape the competitive pressure
of social trends parenting and instead nurture the core nature of your
child."
—
Michele
Borba, Ed.D., author, 12 Simple Secrets Real Moms Know and Building
Moral Intelligence
 To
get this book click here 
Current
Trends in Parenting are Harming America's Children, says
Bestselling Author
Children
who are always on the go. Tests and competitions to get
youngsters into the 'best' schools.
Social criteria that dictate how a child should behave, play, and act
at specific ages, even if their brain development is different than the
trend. These are all symptoms of "social trends
parenting," says family therapist and educator Michael Gurian
in his new book NURTURE THE NATURE: Understanding and Supporting Your
Child's Unique Core Personality.
Gurian coined
the phrase "social trends parenting" to refer to our
current media-saturated system of raising kids that
focuses on constantly changing social fads, experts, and infotainments,
instead of a child's unique and individual nature.
Some of the social trends that blindside parents are extensive
television and computer use; the anxiety many parents feel about not
doing enough for their children; and the negative impact that
over-scheduling can have on children of all ages.
In NURTURE THE NATURE, Gurian argues
that children are not blank slates
to be shaped as we wish. Rather, each is born with a unique
core nature--specific needs, strengths, vulnerabilities, and learning
style--that cannot be adequately supported with a one-size-fits all
approach. "Social trends parenting does not focus
on who our children are says Gurian, and it works against the core
nature of the individual child, causing children
and families to suffer unnecessary anxiety and chronic stress.
Drawing on twenty-five years of academic research and clinical field
study, The Gurian Institute's
work with hundreds of school
districts and thousands of parents nationwide, as well as the latest
research in brain science in child and adolescent development, Gurian
provides readers with the tools they need to uncover their
child's core nature – who their child really is
– so each child can flourish and thrive. He
explains, for example, that a toddler's temper tantrum is an
internal process that is necessary for emotional growth –
parts of the brain literally swell and it's hard to calm down
without the significant outburst of adrenaline that we know as a
tantrum. Depending on their core nature, some toddlers are
innately better at exploiting their parents through the use of tantrums
than others. Gurian
advises parents whose toddler routinely
throws severe tantrums to let the child have the tantrum –
even leave the room if the environment is safe and appropriate
– and pre-determine an amount of time before stepping in.
For each stage of development, Gurian
describes what parents should be
aware of when relating to their children as they grow. For
example, he notes that four to six year-olds become naturally attracted
to things, and explains how parents can protect
their children from the dangers of materialism. He also
includes solutions from real-life parents, such as Hannah, a mother of
three in Houston, who had her children give away a toy every time they
got a new toy, starting when they were four years old. For
parents of adolescents, it's crucial that they help their
children learn full coping skills for crises and setbacks.
Here, Gurian
tells the story of Breva, a thirteen year-old hospitalized
for anorexia, but who, with the support of her family, was able to get
the help she needed, and find her purpose in life. This
family made meaning and mission out of crisis – supporting an
individuating core nature, supporting maturity, says Gurian.
Gurian also
tackles such issues as the natural differences between boys
and girls, and the profound impact diet and sleep have on a
child's moods and relationships. When it comes to
how much media – including television, movies, videogames,
computer time, and iPod use – is appropriate for developing
young minds, Gurian
recommends parents to be aware of particular
signals that indicate their child's relationships are being
stifled. "A sedentary life in front of the screen
cuts off a child from other relationships with parents, extended
family, faith communities, healthy peers, and many others who are the
brain's real food of life," says Gurian.
However, he also warns that screen time is not evil.
"To overreact to it would be to grab onto yet another social
trend – this one saying, media is bad."
Ultimately, Michael
Gurian's nurture-the-nature system is not
just one technique or science: It is a worldview that
recognizes that children do not have to fit a certain mold to be
successful. Powerful and insightful, NURTURE THE NATURE is a
revolutionary parenting guide for people who want to understand and
support each of their children's core natures.
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