The Soul of the Child: Nurturing the Divine Identity of Our Children

by Michael Gurian

With The Wonder of Girls and The Wonder of Boys, bestselling author Michael Gurian presented his groundbreaking views of parenting. Now, with the same breadth of vision and depth of commitment, he combines accessible analysis of cutting-edge science with the study of spiritual texts to explore the divine side of childhood, and to put forth a practical design for the care of our children's souls. A revolutionary vision for parents and educators alike -- indeed, for all who love children -- The Soul of the Child is a deft blend of inspiring stories, common sense, and scientific observations that demonstrates what the soul is and how it works. This insightful and groundbreaking book urges its readers to become aware of our children's divine inheritance, and learn how to nurture that divinity. Sensible and informed, it shows how to protect childhood from the complexities of our age, and provides, as no book ever has, the means for bestowing upon our children the gifts of compassion, security, discipline, humility, and enlightenment. The Soul of the Child is a passionate and practical book that puts forth a finely wrought argument for greater attention to the spiritual side of childhood, to the very life of the human soul. And it couldn't have come at a better time.

Genres: Parenting

Hardcover

First published October 29, 2002

About the author

Michael Gurian is an American author and social philosopher. He works as a marriage and family counselor and corporate consultant. He has published twenty-eight books, several of which were New York Times bestseller list bestsellers. He is considered, along with Leonard Sax, as one of the major proponents of the post-modern "single-sex academic classes" movement.
Gurian taught at Gonzaga University, Eastern Washington University, and Ankara University. His work tends to focus on sex differences and how they contribute to learning.
He is also a co-founder of the Gurian Institute, which trains professionals who deal with the developmental aspects of childhood. The Gurian Institute has trained more than 60,000 teachers from over 2,000 different schools. Some of these schools become "GI Model Schools" and aim to leverage the role gender plays in learning styles.

Reviews

[Jodi · Rating 1 out of 5]

A bunch of mumbo-jumbo about the light of a soul. It could have been an interesting book but he just mumbled on and on and never really made much of a point. It read more like a dissertation than a book on parenting.

[Christina Duncan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I might actually have to purchase this book!

I picked it up thinking it would help me to reach the soul of my toddler, and teach me how to raise my child in a way that would reach his soul, too. Surprisingly, that is not the heart of the book; the book actually takes the reader on a journey that explores how science and religion complement one another, and displays some major religions that focus on "light" as both what dwells within a person as well as that which created this world and humanity.

I found it a very interesting read, especially since so much of it could have come from any number of people from TPOO!

[Meg · Rating 1 out of 5]

Like other New Age books, the author implies throughout the first 4/5 of the book that he has something life-changing to reveal. It turns out to be that the child is god. (In Kubler-Ross' The Wheel of Life it was that she routinely spends time with a guide.)
The goofiness of this book doesn't discredit Gurian's previous work.
Suggests that Christianity borrows the divinity of Christ from mythology.

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this years ago, and remembered enjoying it. Let me know what you think..

[Ellen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Some of the author's ideas and theories were intriguing--but in the end, not that well developed. Disagree completely with some of his ideas about how humans are hard-wired.

[Lauren Richwine · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very clinical with little to no practical application. Scanned text briefly to the end when a little over half way through he began to discuss the validity of psychics and post death sightings.