ECE PolicyMatters<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\u201cThe Importance of being little is a must-read for anyone with a two- to five-year-old<\/span>, as well as for preschool professionals. In an ideal world, Christakis, a true defender of childhood, would have a national position in early childhood education.\u201d
\n\u2014Diana Divecha<\/strong>, The Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley<\/strong><\/p>\n“Erika Christakis has her pulse on modern American education<\/span>, and she wants to help you understand it. She helps explain the doom and gloom so many parents of preschoolers feel about education, providing a much needed context to better understand it\u2014and, hopefully, change it\u2026.This mom would encourage any parent of a young toddler to pick up a copy. Arm yourself with the information you will need to be an effective advocate for your child. Her language is accessible, engaging and flows easily. Her research and insights made a believer out of me, while also helping me see a clear path to preserving the childhood I want for my kids.”
\n\u2014Mom.me<\/strong><\/p>\n\u201c[Christakis\u2019s] insights into raising little ones are eye-opening<\/span> even for the most involved mamas. Actually, especially for them.\u201d
\n\u2013Motherly
\n<\/strong>
\n\u201cIf only adults observed little children with half the energetic curiosity that little children bring to their scrutiny of adults! That, Erika Christakis argues in her wonderful book, is the key to making preschools the exciting and interesting places kids really need. For a guide to keen-eyed appreciation of preschoolers\u2019 amazing powers<\/span>, you can\u2019t find a better one than Christakis. Read The Importance of Being Little and you won\u2019t look at kids, or classrooms, the same way again.\u201d
\n\u2014Ann Hulbert<\/strong>, author of Raising America: Experts, Parents, and a Century of Advice About Children<\/i><\/p>\n\u201cDrawing on a wealth of research and clinical experience, Christakis deftly diagnoses one of the most urgent problems of our times and offers concrete recommendations for dealing with it, at the heart of which is the startlingly humane recognition that children are usually far more intelligent and perceptive than we assume<\/span>, and possess hidden powers of imagination, sociability, and self-discovery. Learned, balanced, and hopeful, this compellingly argued and engagingly written work will not only take its place as a standard reference on early childhood education but, because \u2018we are all someone\u2019s child,\u2019 will be of great interest to everyone concerned with the future of our nation and democratic culture.\u201d
\n\u2014Orlando Patterson<\/strong>, John Cowles Professor of Sociology, Harvard, and Editor of The Cultural Matrix: Understanding Black Youth<\/i><\/p>\n\u201cA brilliant<\/span>, altogether original, impeccably researched but also deeply heartfelt call to action<\/span>. Just as our environment is in grave danger, so is what Christakis calls \u2018the habitat of childhood.\u2019 Her advice\u2014practical, authoritative, but offered with the loving, personal concern of the mother and teacher that she is\u2014soars beyond sensible into the realm of wise, disruptive, and irresistible. A tour de force.\u201d
\n\u2014Edward Hallowell<\/strong>, M.D., author of The Childhood Roots of Adult Happiness<\/i> and Driven to Distraction<\/i><\/p>\n\u201cTeach your children well. It\u2019s easier to sing than to do. Erika Christakis wants to foment a revolution in early childhood education, and with this deeply insightful, scientifically grounded<\/span>, and utterly original book, she just may get her way.\u201d
\n\u2014Daniel Gilbert<\/strong>, author of Stumbling on Happiness<\/i><\/p>\n\u201cAs the experts have bombarded parents with contradictory and ever more demanding advice, childrearing has become more confusing than ever, and the children themselves seem to have been left out of the picture. Parents, caregivers, teachers, and policy makers could have no surer guide through this morass than Erika Christakis. With scientific acumen, irreverent good sense, and a novelist\u2019s eye for human detail, Christakis offers us a judicious view of the new and old realities of bringing up children<\/span>.\u201d
\n\u2014Steven Pinker<\/strong>, Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, and the author of The Language Instinct<\/i> and The Blank Slate<\/i><\/p>\n“Remarkably well-researched, erudite and concise, Erika Christakis offers parents and teachers alike a developmentally informed perspective on how preschool children learn best<\/span>, along with a no-nonsense prescription for how to get them there…if only we adults with our love for top-down instructional methods and endless proliferation of testing can learn to activate out kids’ innate curiosity, support their natural scientific and philosophical wonder, and simply get out of their way.”
\n\u2014Jess P. Shatkin, MD, MPH,<\/strong> Vice Chair for Education, The Child Study Center at NYU Langone Medical Center, NYU College of Arts and Science<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Importance of Being Little: selected by the New York Times as one of “3 Books on the Importance of Early Education,”\u00a0September 13 2017 Washington Post\u00a0honoree for\u00a0“Notable nonfiction books in 2016” Gold Medal winner, Nautilus book awards, 2016 \u201cThis\u00a0superbly written\u00a0book takes us inside the culture of current U.S. preschools \u2026 (Christakis\u2019s) years of\u00a0well-honed experience […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":8,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"prints","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/erikachristakis.com\/author\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/erikachristakis.com\/author\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/erikachristakis.com\/author\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/erikachristakis.com\/author\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/erikachristakis.com\/author\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10"}],"version-history":[{"count":36,"href":"http:\/\/erikachristakis.com\/author\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":274,"href":"http:\/\/erikachristakis.com\/author\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10\/revisions\/274"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/erikachristakis.com\/author\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/erikachristakis.com\/author\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}