There's no shortage of home-grown parenting books in the stores. Most, however, tend to be lightweight self-help advice or memoirs. But six experts from local universities have banded together to produce a more authoritative Chinese-language parenting guide, Raising Children: Wisdom from Psychology.
Timed for release at Hong Kong Book Fair, it presents child-raising tips based on scientific research, like discussing what motivates children and how to teach them effectively. Three of the authors, Alan Wong Chun-nang and Florrie Ng Fei-yin (both assistant professors in psychology at Chinese University), and Yetta Wong Kwai-ling, an assistant professor in applied social studies at City University, offer their insights.
Why did you write the book?
Alan Wong: Parenting books are mostly about parents' grievances, and they pontificate without scientific backup. There has been a lot of research conducted around the world on children's learning motivation and effective learning strategies. So we hope parents and teachers can stop lapping up whatever parenting tips are thrown at them and find individual strategies that fit their charges.
Should children be rewarded for good performance?
Florrie Ng: Overuse of reward systems by parents and teachers is often to blame for children who have poor motivation. Research shows that rewards can be counterproductive to cultivating intrinsic motivation. In one study, a group of children were told to draw to get a medal. Other children were told to draw without any mention of the medal. It turned out that those who drew for the sake of medals performed worst in later sessions.