I am fascinated by the way that the zeitgeist can change over time. I became a mother in the eye of the attachment parenting storm, and it shaped my consciousness almost despite myself. Currently, it seems like all the talk is about brain science and ways we can use scientific studies to shape our parenting. On the one hand, as a social scientist, I like the idea of engaging with evidence over ideology. On the other hand, I'm skeptical about the way that such complex material gets packaged. How can anything be true about all kids or for all parents, as if age, class, race, region, religion, etc. etc. don't matter. Nevertheless, I really liked NurtureShock and find myself actually thinking about it as I consider parenting dilemmas. Now, Ellen Galinsky (cofounder of the work and family institute) has a new book about early childhood learning that has jumped to #1 on the Amazon lists. Mind in the Making looks promising, esp as she describes being motivated to write it by her disappointment with young people's descriptions of learning as a consumer/credentialing activity.
I also read the Science of Raising Happy Kids blog sometimes... (in general, I have a love affair with positive psychology books - but that is for another post).
I like the MojoMom podcasts -- hear Galinsky here, Christine Carter here, and she has Bronson somewhere too.
