TED talks are the perfect source of inspiration for taking tiny steps toward becoming a better parent.
If you are like us and love learning from great minds, watching TED talks can be a great way to boost your parenting skills while cooking dinner.
Today, there are more than 4,000 inspiring TED talks available, with over 120 of them on parenting. And we know it’s hard for busy parents to choose what is worth watching.
Therefore, we pulled together the list of our eight favourite TED talks to get you started.
1. Carol Dweck: The power of believing that you can improve
This talk is a must-watch for every parent.
Growth Mindset is everything. So if you haven’t heard of it yet, start with this TED talk.
Dr Carol S. Dweck is one of the world’s leading researchers in the field of motivation and is the Lewis and Virginia Eaton Professor of Psychology at Stanford University. She spent decades studying why people succeed and how to foster success.
In this talk, Carol Dweck gives a powerful introduction to growth mindset and the power of believing that you can improve. She shares her research findings and demonstrates how adults can help kids develop growth mindset (e.g. praising wisely and “rewarding yet”).
Check out our notes on Dr Dweck’s bestseller Mindset if you feel inspired.
2. Julie Lythcott-Haims: How to raise successful kids – without over-parenting
Here is a quick reminder – we are not raising kids; we are raising adults!
In this TED talk, the former Dean of Freshmen at Stanford, Julie Lythcott-Haims, makes a case for parents to stop being overprotective (helicopter parents) and judging children’s success by grades and universities they get into. Instead, Julie says, they should focus on providing children unconditional love while teaching them all the necessary skills to launch them successfully into adulthood.
Check out our notes on Julie’s great book How to Raise an Adult if you feel inspired.
3. Bruce Feiler: Agile programming – for your family
Feeling stressed and overwhelmed by family life? Agile parenting might help.
Bruce Feiler is one of America’s most popular voices on contemporary life. He writes the “This Life” column for the Sunday New York Times, is the author of six consecutive New York Times bestsellers, and is the presenter of two prime-time series on PBS.
Inspired by agile software programming, in this talk, Feiler introduces family practices that encourage flexibility, bottom-up idea flow, constant feedback and accountability. Family meetings, checklists and letting kids pick up their own punishment – great practical ideas to try at your home.
If you feel inspired, check out our notes on Feiler’s book The Secrets of Happy Families, where he shares many other ideas on how to improve your family life.
4. Angela Lee Duckworth: Grit: The power of passion and perseverance
This is another must-watch talk for every parent.
Dr Angela Duckworth is a 2013 MacArthur Fellow and a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. She is also a co-founder of Character Lab, which goal is to advance scientific insights that help kids thrive.
Before becoming a researcher, she worked in consulting and then took a job teaching math to seventh graders in a New York public school. She realized that I.Q. wasn’t the only thing separating successful students from those who struggled. Since then, Dr Duckworth has conducted fascinating research on why some people achieve their goals and some people fail to do so. In short, all high-achievers have grit.
In this talk, she explains her theory of “grit” as a predictor of success. And every parent will have a lot of food for thought.
Check out our notes on Dr Duckworth’s bestselling book Grit if you feel inspired.
5. Molly Wright: How every child can thrive by five
Molly Wright is one of the youngest-ever TED speakers…and she is super cute and inspirational 🙂
She kicks off the talk with a question: “What if I was to tell you that a game of peek-a-boo could change the world?” Within 7 minutes, she breaks down the research-backed ways parents and caregivers can support children’s healthy brain development and shares five ways we, adults, can help children not only survive but thrive by the age of five.
To demonstrate her points, Molly asked to join her neighbour and his little son Ari. And we think it is something that EVERY parent should see. Check it out.
6. Sir Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity?
This is the most-watched TED talk of all time! And it completely changed the way we look at the educational system and schooling in particular.
Sir Ken Robinson was one of the most potent advocates of global education transformation. His main message in this talk is that intelligence is very diverse and “creativity is as important as literacy and we should afford it the same status”.
Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity.
Check out our notes on Sir Ken Robinson’s great books Creative Schools and You, Your Child and School if you feel inspired.
7. Lessons from the longest study on human development | Helen Pearson
The key message of this talk – parenting matters!
In March 1946, scientists began to track thousands of children born in one week, which became the longest-running study of human development in the world, growing to encompass five generations of children. In this TED talk, a science journalist Helen Pearson shares some important findings and simple truths about life and good parenting.
Check out our notes on Helen Pearson’s book The Life Project if you feel inspired.
8. Peter Gray: The decline of play
This TED talk will help you to look at play from a different perspective.
Peter Gray is a leading expert in childhood development. He is a research professor in the Department of Psychology at Boston College and the author of Psychology, a highly regarded college textbook.
In this talk, Dr Peter Gray compellingly brings attention to the reality that these days children have less freedom to play with other children without adult direction than 60 years ago. At the same time, he highlights all the consequences of it.
Drawing on his own and others’ research, Dr Gray explains why free play is essential for children’s healthy social and emotional development and suggests steps through which we can bring free play back to children’s lives.
Check out our notes on Dr Gray’s fantastic book Free to Learn if you feel inspired.
Question for you: which of these TED talks inspired you the most? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.
Loads of love,
Irina and Dawid
