Are you looking for a good book this summer? Or more accurately, a thought provoking book to pick up in between those well-deserved beach reads?

Join me in reading Born for Love: Why Empathy is Essential – and Endangered, or simply follow along with my thoughts on the book.

Award-winning science journalist Maia Szalavitz and renowned child psychiatrist Bruce D. Perry tackle the complicated subject of empathy in this pithy book. They engage the latest research, remarkable case studies, and evaluations of modern child-care practices and lifestyles to uncover the roots and future of empathy.

Due to time constraints, I usually fall in love with the more pragmatic variety of parenting books, full of easily, immediately implementable strategies. When I stumbled across this book, however, I was hooked. The questions it aims to answer are extremely evocative:

• What makes children loving – and what makes them cruel?
• How does empathy directly affect our health, wealth, and emotional well-being?
• Can too much empathy be as bad as too little?
• What can we do to increase this vital capacity to love and are both among our children and in society?

And these are just a small sample!

Grab the book from your local library and weigh in when I post more about this book in a few weeks.

Tags: Big Ideas, Books & Resources, Grown Up Books

About Sarah

Sarah Aadland is striving to make family volunteering a meaningful habit for her family of five. Join the conversation as she ponders what they may (or may not have) learned and looks for helpful information about raising compassionate kids.Though she plans to one day put her Masters in Public Policy back to work for social justice, she sees family volunteering as a way to build a stronger community, a better world, and a more connected family. In addition to her children, Sarah tends a large garden, a small flock of chickens, and a habit of mindfulness amid the necessary rituals of parenting.

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