Concerted Cultivation Approach To Parenting

I’ve been reading Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers and have just been blown away by the chapter that discusses concerted cultivation as being more useful to children than any form of innate genius (this article explains concerted cultivation better than Wikipedia). I have read about similar approaches to concerted cultivation in parenting, but never before has the results of this approach been made so clear to me. I am convinced it is worthwhile and I really must try to keep this in mind as I bring up my kids.

Now, the concerted cultivation idea is not just about kids doing lots of extra-curricular activities, although that has its place. I do believe kids also need to have time to just muck about and be kids, getting bored and seeing what they do with that. The activities are only a part of the concerted cultivation idea, and ultimately help the kids by letting them specialise, excel at things, see their needs as important, socialise broadly and see different aspects of society. All important, yes. The rest of the concerted cultivation approach is about the way you speak to your child, and the way you teach them to value themselves, value their opinion, and most importantly to assert their wishes and feel…