I was scheduled to deliver the Parent Education component tonight at our Inglewood Parent Participation Preschool and decided to review the recent book out NutureShock: New Thinking About Children by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman. My good friend Barb Smith brought this book to my attention, and it has been great recommendation in terms of how interesting and directly relevant the information is towards the goal of raising happy and successful children.
The term “nurtureshock” is described as the panic common to new parents that “the mythical fountain of knowledge is not magically kicking in.” It’s that gut-pummeling doubt that hits the moment you bring your first child home from the hospital— “They let us keep this thing” — and snowballs from there. Such feelings of inadequacy, the authors suggest, are justified. But, as they write, “small corrections in our thinking today could alter the character of society long term, one future-citizen at a time.”
This book is essentially a collection of scientific studies that challenge many long held assumptions about children, child development and successful parenting. The authors relate recent scientific findings to argue that some of the conventional wisdom about parenting and child development is a combination of “wishful thinking, moralistic biases, contagious fads, personal history and old (disproven) psychology. . .”
The authors state that they selected their various topics because the research was surprising and contradicted common parenting assumptions and practices.
About the Authors
Po Bronson is a well known author, primarily from writing novels about Bay Area bond trading and Silicon Valley technology start up companies.
Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman’s New York Magazine articles on the science of parenting won the magazine journalism award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a Clarion Award. Their articles for Time Magazine have won the award for outstanding journalism from the Council on Contemporary Families. The book is an expansion of their articles on science and parenting.
The Garton-Jones clan is psyched for a summer holiday at Almost Idaho Ranch, a beautiful property owned by a family friend.
Three exceptional homes with views overlooking Shearer Lake, a private 49 acre lake situated on 497 acres bordering the Kaniksu National Forest. Manicured grounds, with miles of groomed hiking and riding trails inspire a lifestyle rarely found so close to the city.
The cozy atmosphere of the sophisticated 6634 sq. ft. Northwest lodge style home welcome you to take in the peace and tranquility that reaches from the top of Stone Johnny Mountain to each recipient of natures’ gifts. Share the privilege with family and friends at the 2300 sq. ft. log home or the outdoor entertainment porch screened for summertime picnics or enclosed for winter fireside enjoyment.
Property also provides a caretakers home, a nostalgic miner’s cabin, and multiple barns and corrals to house the menagerie of animals and pets who currently reside here. Two machine shops and two open bay sheds are for toys and maintenance equipment.
It’s even on Twitter http://twitter.com/almostidaho
We are not just a traditional law firm with a work life balance policy. Instead, work life balance forms the fundamental underpinning of our firm. We have a innovative model of legal practice, centered on the concept of how to enable work life balance for all. We are currently an all-female firm, specializing in wills and estates, family law and mediation. Technology plays a critical role in our success.
A February 2007 cover story of California Lawyer magazine was entitled “We’re Outta Here: Why Women are Leaving Big Firms.” The article noted the serious issue of high attrition rates from the legal profession:
“The past few years have witnessed the highest levels of associate attrition ever documented, with an average annual attrition rate for both sexes of 19 percent, as recently reported by the NALP Foundation for Law Career Research and Education. Within five years of entering a firm, more than three-quarters of associates leave. Female associates were nearly twice as likely as males to depart to pursue a better work/life balance.”
The article’s key quote was:
“If law firms want to get the best and brightest young women to join them and stay, they will likely need to change radically and adopt different definitions of sacrifice and partnership.”
It bears noting that work life balance is not just a woman’s issue. Particularly among Generation X and Y lawyers (generally thought to be people born between 1965-1980 and 1981-1995 respectively), there seems to be an increasing emphasis from both men and women on their wish for work life balance and the flexibility to enable them to also pursue family, community and personal health goals.
In May of 2008, the Law Society of Upper Canada’s Retention of Women in Private Practice Working Group produced a report identifying best practices to promote the retention and advancement of women in the private practice of law. The report noted that the oft cited barriers to work life balance in large law firms are the unavailability of support and benefits such as part-time partnerships, part-time employment, predictable hours, job sharing and flexibility in hours. Women in small firms or in sole practices were noted to face challenges such as lack of income or benefits during leaves and lack of assistance to maintain the practice during absences.
Heritage Law certainly doesn’t provide an example on how to stem the tide of lawyer attrition from big law firms. We do provide a successful example of female lawyers and staff in a small firm who are happily remaining and thriving in the practice of law. We have built a system of support for each other to facilitate flexibility while maintaining high service levels to clients.
In short, we have developed a sustainable law firm model that respects the well being of our staff while striving to do the very best for our clients. Both the professionals and the clientele of Heritage Law benefit as a result.
Certainly the cast of characters at the typical CBA Wills & Estates Section meeting is decidedly more sedate. Now family lawyers, that’s a whole other story.
Not to downplay the terrible tragedy of the senseless loss of two young people, people who would have spent their lives giving back to their community.
Research has shown that three’s a crowd when it comes to a happy marriage, yet American parents are spending more and more of their time caring for their children. But there are ways to improve marital satisfaction.
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