Your children’s genes reflect only their potential, not their destiny. It is up to us to provide the environment that allows them to develop to their highest potential. Educate yourself more on your children’s self-discovery on our next episode of Genomy’s Virtual Discussion, “The Influence of Genetics in Child Development”.
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Parents, take a deep breath: how your kids turn out isn’t fully on you. Of course, parenting plays an important role in shaping who children become, but psychologist Yuko Munakata offers an alternative, research-backed reality that highlights how it’s just one of many factors that influence the chaotic complexity of childhood development. A rethink for anyone wondering what made them who they are today and what it means to be a good parent.

0:00 Intro
0:53 Why most parenting advice is wrong
1:50 Hurricane children vs. butterfly parents
2:53 The myth of inherited success (or struggle)
5:25 Can you predict who a child becomes?
8:19 Same event, different experience
9:59 The mystery of parenting
11:45 Stop the blame game
12:56 What you learn parenting terminally ill children
15:10 Why parenting is about staying in the moment

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If you could do one thing – the most important thing – to influence the life of a young child, what would that be (it’s likely not what you first bring to mind)? We want to improve the wellbeing of children – our own, in our community, and in the world, so thinking globally about this question is vital.

Tom Weisner is an emeritus professor of anthropology and psychiatry at UCLA. He studies and teaches about culture and human development; families and children at risk; and evidence-informed policies to improve the lives of children and families. He has done research in Kenya on the effects on children and parents of rural-urban migration; in Delhi, India on families and children with autism; supports for working poor families in Wisconsin; families with children with disabilities in Los Angeles; hippie and countercultural families and children in California; sibling caretaking and education in Hawaii; non-parental and sibling caretaking around the world; and gratitude and school achievement among Latino adolescents and families in Los Angeles. He has served on the Board of the NGO ChildFund International. He went to Reed College (BA) and Harvard (PhD). He is married to Susan Meade Weisner, and has two sons and four beautiful grandchildren.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx
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