In this week’s edition of Where Parents Talk with Lianne Castelino on 105.9 The Region, academic, speaker, New York Times bestselling author, mother of two young adults and the former Dean of Freshmen at Stanford University, Julie Lythcott-Haims discusses what it takes to raise an adult in today’s world.
Author of How to Raise and adult and Your Turn: How to Be An Adult, Lythcott-Haims discusses what she has observed professionally — while spending a decade in her role at Stanford University and beyond — all of which played a role in her penning her books on the subject of adulting. She also shares part of her personal journey as a wife and mother of young adults.
Excerpt:
“I’m a former university Dean who saw problem at the 18 to 22 year old level and tried to dial back and understand what was happening and parenting and childhood that was kind of leading kids astray. So what I will say is this, the minute they start to walk, they’re walking away from us, we’re supposed to prevent them from walking into traffic, walking into the ocean, walking off a cliff. That is to say, we are meant to be guardrails to make sure nothing disastrous happens while rooting for them to continue to go and grow and get stronger. We’re supposed to delight in that instead of to be afraid of all that. So every step of the way, there’s we should be asking great look at the skills they’ve got what’s next, instead of let me help them with that forever, we’re supposed to be teaching them every single thing, from how to cross the street safely to how to make a meal to how to remember to put their things in their backpack, we’re supposed to let the consequences of life happen.”
JULIE LYTHCOTT-HAIMS
Former Dean of Freshmen, Stanford University
Academic
Educator
Author
Speaker (TED Talk)
Mother of 2
