Here’s an interesting blog I ran across, called “Wisdom of the Hands,” written by woodworker, teacher and author Doug Stowe. Here’s how he describes his topic: “This blog is dedicated to sharing the concept that our hands are essential to…
Dr. Adam Cox
Connecting people with ideas for learning and living well. Helping to build purposeful lives.
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More Hands on Deck
Posted in Boys, Child Psychology, Education, Girls, Parenting, Play, Psychology of Youth, School, Society & Culture, Teaching Tagged with: Brain, Browning School, Creativity, Doug Stowe, Handwork, John Botti, Landon School, Learning, Makers, Marcos Williams, Teaching, Woodworking
Failure to Launch
Speaking of boys and young men, is there any social epidemic which frustrates families more than a failure to launch? And with good reason. How frustrating to raise and educate a child who then lacks the interest and momentum to…
Posted in Adolescence, Boys, Child Psychology, College, Parenting, Psychology of Youth, Social Communication, Society & Culture Tagged with: Boys, College Admission, Culture, Energy, Failure to Launch, Goals, Immaturity, Inertia, Life Narratives, Life Purpose, Parenting, Planning, Purpose, Realism, Society, Young Men, Youth
What Do I Tell My Son about Tom Brady?
Like all New Englanders I currently feel under siege. The hate for the New England Patriots, Bill Belichick and Tom Brady is at epic levels. Of course this has been going on for years. People are bored with the Patriots’…
Posted in Adolescence, Boys, Child Psychology, Communicating with Kids, Parenting, Psychology of Youth, Society & Culture, Sports Tagged with: Athletics, Civility, Competition, Consciousness, Culture, Education, Media, New England, Parenting, Patriots, Sports, Tom Brady, Truth
Our Weird, Loopy Understanding of Gaming Addiction
Our era is largely defined by fascination with games. All kinds of games. Sports enjoy high status as entertainment. The vast majority have multiple games on handheld devices, and boys crave time on gaming platforms or laptops which can…
Posted in Adolescence, Boys, Brain, College, Psychology of Youth, Society & Culture, Teaching Tagged with: Addiction, Brain, Competition, Depression, Gaming, Gaming Addiction, Life Purpose, Neuroscience, Online communication, Parenting, Purpose, Work
Searching for Authenticity
For two decades I’ve been wrestling with the challenges of youth, trying to address the most pressing issues in constructive and novel ways. The landscape of child and adolescent psychology is not flat. Specifically, not all issues or challenges are…
Posted in Adolescence, Brain, College, Parenting, Psychology of Youth, Society & Culture Tagged with: Adolescence, Authenticity, Boys, College, Education, Girls, Life Narratives, On Purpose Before Twenty, Parker Palmer, Psychology, Psychotherapy, Purpose, Self-knowledge, Values, Wendell Berry
The War on Creativity
It shouldn’t be difficult to advocate for the basics. It should be obvious that some learning experiences are so fundamental to human life that they can’t be reasonably excluded from childhood. But in fact it is increasingly awkward to advocate…
Posted in Adolescence, Boys, Child Psychology, Childhood, Education, Parenting, Professional Development, Psychology of Youth, School, Society & Culture, Teaching Tagged with: Aesthetics, Art, Children's Arts Guild, Creativity, Education, Humanities, Music, Parenting, Public School, School, STEM, Teaching, Youth
Can Nature Really Cure ADHD?
There is a pernicious myth that being in nature can miraculously cure those affected by ADHD, or more specifically, executive dysfunction. There is something wholesome and positive about this notion. It is based on the belief that the main…
Posted in Adolescence, Boys, Brain, Child Psychology, Childhood, Early Childhood, Executive Functions, Parenting, Psychology of Youth, Society & Culture, Teaching Tagged with: ADHD, Education, Executive Dysfunction, Executive Functions, Medication, Nature, Parenting, Society, Urban Environment
America’s Meritocracy Primes Unrelenting School Competition
First, a confession. I am an idealist when it comes to education. I believe school is more than a means to an end, because I believe learning is one of life’s great privileges. Having said that, I have to take…
Posted in College, Communicating with Kids, Education, Parenting, Professional Development, Psychology of Youth, School, Society & Culture, Teaching Tagged with: Competition, Education, Exams, grades, Meritocracy, Parenting, School, Schools, Teachers, Teaching
Play is the Work of Children
Play occupies life before work does, and is in ways a primer for work. As cleverly observed by philosopher Alain de Botton, children gravitate toward characters who are “shopkeepers, builders, cooks or farmers – people whose labor can easily be…
Posted in Boys, Brain, Child Psychology, Childhood, Early Childhood, Education, Girls, Parenting, Play, Psychology of Youth, Social Communication, Society & Culture Tagged with: Allain de Botton, Boys, child psychology, Creativity, Girls, Kindergarten, Philosophy, Play, Preschool, Pretend, Purpose, Students, Teaching, Work, Youth
