Wei_Dai: I worried somewhat about how to influence my kids’ peer group and exposure to ideas.
But I was reassured by a lot of behavior genetics research that parents and peers don’t matter nearly as much as we think they do, in the long run. Kids’ personality traits, cognitive traits, values, and interests often drive their choices of friends, peer groups, books, and media.
For example, independent of my influence, my older daughter when she was 14 was curious about global poverty, started reading Peter Singer books, learned about animal ethics, and spontaneously turned vegan, and has stayed vegan in the decade since then. If I’d tried to nudge her into veganism, she might have rebelled.
Having said that, I do think choice of school can be important for a kids’ peer group—the better and more selective the school, the more likely a smart, curious kid will find like-minded kids, and feel happy and socially fulfilled. This can be extremely important in avoiding teenage depression and alienation.
I’ll try to read your posts soon; thanks for the links!
Wei_Dai: I worried somewhat about how to influence my kids’ peer group and exposure to ideas.
But I was reassured by a lot of behavior genetics research that parents and peers don’t matter nearly as much as we think they do, in the long run. Kids’ personality traits, cognitive traits, values, and interests often drive their choices of friends, peer groups, books, and media.
For example, independent of my influence, my older daughter when she was 14 was curious about global poverty, started reading Peter Singer books, learned about animal ethics, and spontaneously turned vegan, and has stayed vegan in the decade since then. If I’d tried to nudge her into veganism, she might have rebelled.
Having said that, I do think choice of school can be important for a kids’ peer group—the better and more selective the school, the more likely a smart, curious kid will find like-minded kids, and feel happy and socially fulfilled. This can be extremely important in avoiding teenage depression and alienation.
I’ll try to read your posts soon; thanks for the links!