How to Raise Successful People: Simple Lessons for Radical Results By Esther Wojcicki

At the bottom line, the message of Esther Wojcicki's book is actually pretty good. The problem is that this takes up about a quarter of the book; the last three quarters are filled with self-indulgence and bragging. I found it very annoying. Small stories of the form this person such and such had a big problem that nobody could figure out. Then I met that person and could see right away that the solution was such and such. I have always been like this and have raised my three daughters like this, who are by the way CEO's and professors. If you can filter out all the praise and patting on the back, then there is definitely something worth reading here. Esther Wojcicki This book is full of helpful, accessible, practical advice. The author's TRICK (Trust, Respect, Independence, Curiosity, and Kindness) method is great. The very long personal introduction from the author felt unnecessary as did the many personal anecdotes, which is why I dropped my review to 3 stars.

I received an ARC from NetGalley. Esther Wojcicki This book had suggestions and science-backed tactics to help build strong, independent, and kind individuals. Woj doesn't cite everything in the book as it's mentioned but there is an appendix and that makes it super easy to read without feeling lost or that you need a child development degree or more.

Trust, Responsibility, Independence, Collaboration, Kindness. These are highly categories that scratch the surface of basic human needs. I love that it offers a collaborative approach to raising kids in a way that builds them up to define success for themselves, trust in themselves, take risks, and care for humanity.

Something that rubbed me the wrong way - that speaks more about me than the author - was the name dropping. Steve Jobs, Facebook, Inventors of Google, James Franco, and so many more. It's great when you're in Palo Alto, in Silicon Valley and your schools have the resources and such. But it isn't completely practical for people of color, or people in low income areas. Woj addresses that briefly and in a way that's great because she doesn't try to speak from a position she isn't familiar with.

This doesn't mean Woj didn't experience her own struggles and I think that is why ALL parents should read How to Raise Successful People. She speaks of her experience, of being immigrants, poor, struggling, inheriting trauma, and how that transfers and translates as the generations pass. Even people of privilege have a history of struggle and trauma. In this way we are all more alike and connected then we may have previously thought.

I don't have the means or access Woj does. But I know what I can do to prepare my children for the world and set them up to hopefully have the access, resources, and heart to do better for others and their kin. Read this, share this, build your village, and celebrate parenting.

Also, vote. Please educate yourself and vote. Esther Wojcicki I really thought I would love this book but it is full of bragging and name dropping. Not really what I was expecting at all. Esther Wojcicki It wasn’t terrible, and I got most of the way through, but the incessant name dropping and self-aggrandizing was too much for me to take. Some good tricks (ha) for both parenting and teaching, though, but not a book’s worth. Esther Wojcicki

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The Godmother of Silicon Valley, legendary teacher, and mother of three superstar daughters, shares her tried-and-tested methods for raising happy, healthy, successful children.

There are no Nobel Prizes for parenting or education, but there should be. How we raise and educate our children determines not only the people they become but the society we create. As we face an epidemic of parental and childhood anxiety, Woj is here to say: relax.

Revolutionizing the way we think about human behaviour, Woj encourages us to abandon helicopter parenting. The best way to prepare our children for their future is to let them lead. By teaching them to problem-solve, to explore their passions, to develop resilience and enjoy working as a team you can equip them to be fulfilled, empowered and independent.

Change your parenting, change the world. How to Raise Successful People: Simple Lessons for Radical Results

I felt like this book by Esther Wojcicki ran the gamut of the good, the bad, and the ugly.

First, the good: There is some valuable advice in these pages, and I particularly appreciated the focus on parents working through their own trauma and the chapter on trusting your kids.

The bad: As noted by other reviewers, Wojcicki's tales of her children and her students often come across as bragging. The points she's making are valid. This is an issue not so much of the what as the way. I also didn't appreciate how she enlisted her students in fooling school administration when the principal didn't like her teaching methods. Asking them to participate in deceit seems to send a crummy message, in my opinion, and it's one of the opportunities that she used to brag about herself, not just her kids.

The ugly: Around 200 pages in, Wojcicki shares her thoughts on divorce and that whole section is insulting and offensive and wrong. Admittedly, I am divorced, but truly don't believe that my decision to pursue love and happiness is modeling for my child how to live an angry life, as Wojcicki describes it. Her judgment is unnecessary and unhelpful. That section could have been eliminated without an issue and I'm surprised an editor didn't step in and say so.

I confess that I couldn't read the next section on kindness after feeling that she had shared what I felt were many unkind words the pages prior. Esther Wojcicki This one is tough to review. It’s an interesting book with lots of individual parts that succeed, but I’m not sure it works as a whole. As a parenting book, it is a bit frustrating. Obviously there isn’t a “silver bullet” method for raising “successful” kids and it’s unrealistic to expect any magic answers to common parenting challenges, but I was hoping for something a little more well-defined than what Wojcicki offers. That said, I like her TRICK concept and their are some very good (and interesting) anecdotes here to learn from.

In the end, though, I am left wondering if Wojcicki’s place in the very privileged and unique “bubble” environment of Silicon Valley leaves her with some pretty major blind spots as it relates to families in less wealthy communities. While she certainly did not have a privileged upbringing, her decades ensconced in an elite, tech-centric community may have left her with an unrealistic idea of what schools, bureaucracies and child-rearing are like in more “ordinary” places. Esther Wojcicki Esther Wojcicki seems like a nice enough lady, and she should rightly be proud of her three daughters' success, but this was a slog from beginning to end.

First, I'm not sure why she chose TRICK as her acronym. The word carries such negative connotations (turn a trick, play a trick) that it casts a pall over what is an approach to positive parenting. Furthermore, the values (trust, respect, independence, collaboration, kindness) are the vague ones of seemingly all corporations and for-profit enterprises.

My second issue is the sheer number of anecdotes where Wojcicki toots her own horn. The bragging is endless and, in certain respects, unwarranted because a discussion of the affluence (the average income is around $150,000) and education level of the Palo Alto community where she raised her children is noticeably absent. When you and almost everyone around you start on third base (George Dantzig—he invented the simplex algorithm—is the Wojcickis’ neighbor), is it that hard to raise successful people? She also name-drops constantly (I hope you enjoy hearing about James Franco), and it often feels like I've gotten stuck next to THAT MOTHER at a dinner party.

Lastly, Wojcicki teaches journalism, but this is not a good example of conventional practices. Virtually all her sentences could be tighter, and she takes an inconsistent approach to punctuation. She also needs to do some fact-checking because, at one point, she tells a story about leaving her high-school-aged kids alone for a weekend in 1994—when they would have been in their twenties.

This being said, there's nothing harmful in here, and in fact, I agree with her overall theories, just not how she presented the material. Esther Wojcicki I read this book in one sitting. I will start by saying that I am not a fan of parenting books in general. I find that they are either written by people who aren't parents or people who tell you there's one right way. Neither of which works for me. I have a teenager who rolls his eyes each time he sees me look at a parenting book and tells me that they are not worth it.

Alas, I picked up this book anyway because I am always open to learning, growing and trying to do better. There's much in this book about how we get in the way of our kids' lives because of who we are.

The first thing every parent should do, then, is reflect on their experiences. It sounds simple, but we often fail to do it.

and how many parents are making choices or taking action from their own insecurities, doubts, anxieties, etc. So their kid approves, needs, etc. them. It's about letting the kids lead, letting them take detours if need be and being there and knowing that they will be ok. It's about honoring and respecting who your kids already are. It's about not letting your own definition of success/your goals/your ambitions get in the way of your kid's life.

The lesson in all of this: Children will listen to you - they want your approval and love - but if they want to be happy, they're going to have to listen to themselves.

It's about respecting your kids so they can respect themselves, so they can take risks and become independent. It's about giving them independence, choice, responsibility and trust at a young age and continuing it all throughout.

The author recommends a system she calls TRICK ( Trust, Respect, Independence, Collaboration and Kindness). Both giving it to the kids and modeling it yourself.

As with all such books, I don't agree with every single word the author says. There are parts where I thought she was too opinionated, too judgmental, or too preachy. Parts where it sounded like patting oneself in the back. But there is so much gold in this book that I didn't care at all. At its core, this was a fantastic book and her message resonated deeply with me. It is one I will work hard to remember as I continue to raise my kids.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. Esther Wojcicki Gerumas padeda pasiekti kur kas daugiau nei galimybė studijuoti koledže ir gauti gerą darbą. Kai dalijamės gerumu, mus supantys žmonės jaučiasi laimingi, be to, ir patys taip jaučiamės. Už visų gerų poelgių slypi šioks toks savanaudiškumas: įgyjame santarvės ir prasmės pojūtį, kurio niekur nenusipirksi. Visi turime skintis kelią per gyvenimą, tad kodėl nepasistengus, kad ta kelionė būtų mielesnė aplinkiniams, juolab, kad visi esame susiję?

Svarbi knyga tėvams, mokytojams, ir net neturintiems vaikų. Jei reiktų trumpai apibūdinti, apie ką knyga, tai sakyčiau, kad apie tai, kaip vadovaujantis tam tikru požiūriu, ar taisyklėmis, sėkmingai pasiekti savo tikslus, gyventi su prasme ir būti gerais žmonėmis. Skamba kažkaip labai self-helpiškai, bet Esther Wojcicki rašo tikrai nuoširdžiai, dalinasi pavyzdžiais iš darbo mokykloje su vaikais, taip pat pasakoja, kaip augino savo dukras, kokiais principais vadovavosi ir, kas iš to išėjo. Gal ir neįtikinau, man tas nesiseka, bet aš tokią knygą dovanočiau kitam žmogui drąsiai. Esther Wojcicki