Welcome Policy Makers and others who care about public policy!
If you do policy work, you understand that policies matter. The institutions and policies of cities, states and nations can make it difficult, possible, or even likely for individuals and communities to thrive. That’s why we spend so much time and energy proposing, refining, and arguing about public policy. Your work matters.
Ironically, family matters more than policy – and especially in the earliest years of life. Who your parents are will more profoundly shape you than what schools you go to. (In fact, who your parents are will shape how you view learning, school, and all of life.) However, policy has a truly important place. Strategic policies at local, state and national levels can foster the kind of parental responsibility and family involvement that make for healthy educational institutions and communities.
A Manifesto for You
If you care about public health, education, thriving economies, and civil society, this book is for you. It makes the case for the peculiar power of cultural transmission in the earliest years of life that sets a child’s trajectory. That trajectory affects virtually every aspect of our social and economic life including public and philanthropic expenditures on education, child care, housing, and criminal justice. It argues the case in non-technical language so that you can know what matters. This is the book that you can hand to your boss and say, “This is why we should care about early childhood parenting.”
Three Arguments: Moral, Economic & Virtue
There is a compelling moral argument for promoting the welfare of disadvantaged children; recently the economic argument has come in vogue. The Apprenticeship of Being Human champions the virtue argument, which states that parents demonstrate courage and virtue in overcoming obstacles to nurture in their children character, competence, creativity and the ability to collaborate with others.
Specifically, by reading this book, you will:
- Understand the lifelong impact of early home life on children
- Recognize the power of early brain development for children
- Identify the four key developmental areas that parents influence
- Focus on the three critical levers for promoting healthy development
- Identify ways that schools, non-profits, and community organizations can work together to support thriving families in your community
Because The Apprenticeship of Being Human:
- Provides an overview of the nature and rate of human brain development
- Offers a simple, compelling metaphor that captures the power of relationships
- Displays the power of stories in forming children for learning and life
- Describes how educators, parents, policy makers, medical professionals and non-profits can and should work together for the good of families with young children
Are you a lobbyist, researcher, or policy maker? This book is your best primer on the impact of early childhood parenting.
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Want to use it for your organization or a book club? Contact me for volume discounts.