The Kids Are Alright




With Good Reason show

Summary: Have more children, don’t stress out about parenting, and spend less time on activities that you and your children don’t enjoy. This is the advice of Bryan Caplan (George Mason University), author of the new book Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids: Why Being a Great Parent is Less Work and More Fun Than You Think. And: Children love borrowing books from the library. They also love playing with toys. So why don’t we have toy libraries? Julie Ozanne (Virginia Tech) studies toy libraries in Europe and New Zealand and found that toy libraries offer multiple benefits for children, their parents, and their communities. Later in the show: Historians have long held that children of 17th and 18th century Europe were thought of as incomplete adults who were not yet worthy of love or compassion. But historian Michael Galgano (James Madison University) says children of this time were actually celebrated and loved. Also featured: Elementary school teachers may want to encourage a noisier classroom this fall. Adam Winsler’s (George Mason University) recent research shows that 5-year-olds perform better on motor tasks when they talk to themselves out loud than when they are silent. And: Infants come into the world equipped with an enormous capacity to trust, which is essential to rapid learning. Vikran Jaswal (University of Virginia) says part of the challenge of childhood is learning when to question. - See more at: http://withgoodreasonradio.org/2013/06/the-kids-are-alright-2/#sthash.QW6PitSm.dpuf