Alison Gopnik

The Gardener and the Carpenter

1. IDEA 1

   Parents should be gardeners, not carpenters

   Gopnik, a developmental psychologist, contrasts two views of parenting. The carpenter tries to shape a child into a planned product, while the gardener creates a safe, rich environment in which a child can grow in unexpected ways.

2. IDEA 2

   Parenting is a recent idea

   Gopnik notes that treating parenting as a job with goals is fairly new. Historically, caring for children was part of ordinary life. In her account, the idea of shaping a child like a product grew out of modern work and school culture.

3. IDEA 3

   Children are natural learners

   Gopnik argues that young children are powerful learners, exploring and testing ideas like small scientists. In her account, curiosity, guesses and experiments come naturally to them, even before they can speak well.

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