The One Parenting Decision That Really Matters

They have different ways of setting boundaries and enforcing boundaries; exploring in nature; roughhousing; creating teachable moments; challenging the kids’ limits; using hangout time; and different attitudes toward teasing. Researchers have also documented dads’ greater tendencies to • walk a fine line between safety and risk-taking; • juggle the

Boys raised in a single-mother household have disproportionately higher crime rates and mental health issues. 73% of adolescent murderers grew up without a father. 85% of adolescents with behavioral issues originate from fatherless homes, while 85% of youths in prisons grew up in fatherless homes.

life. He found that the most important childhood risk factors predicting convictions for violent behaviour later in life were: high risk-taking, lower than average IQ (especially verbal IQ), a broken family background, harsh parental discipline, hyperactivity (such as ADHD), and large family size.

This belief in the S-shape means that unless parents are unwilling to treat their children differently from one another, it makes sense for them to put all their educational eggs in the basket of the child they perceive to be the most promising, making sure that she gets enough education, rather than spreading the investment evenly across all their