If you just got enough expertise and enough special techniques and read up enough, then you could shape a child into the kind of adult you wanted. There's almost this kind of competitive enterprise. That picture is the picture I think people often imply when they use the word "parenting".
Alison GopnikTexts and e-mails travel no faster than phone calls and telegrams, and their content isn't necessarily richer or poorer.
Alison GopnikThere is a tension between our desire to get our kids to turn out a particular way versus letting them develop to be their own person. If there were a pill that would make my child turn out the way I wanted, I'm not sure I'd take it.
Alison GopnikOne of the most distinctive evolutionary features of human beings is our unusually long, protected childhood.
Alison Gopnik