{"id":201,"date":"2009-08-25T09:28:19","date_gmt":"2009-08-25T09:28:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/gap\/wp\/?p=201"},"modified":"2009-08-25T09:28:19","modified_gmt":"2009-08-25T09:28:19","slug":"hothousing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/gap\/2009\/08\/hothousing\/","title":{"rendered":"Hothousing"},"content":{"rendered":"

I came across an interesting article<\/a> in the NYTimes<\/i> about the identical-twin tennis super duo, Bob and Mike Bryan. Their dad, Wayne, wrote a book on how to foster talent in children, and the article includes this quote:<\/p>\n

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In 2004, Wayne wrote a book, “Raising Your Child to Be a Champion in Athletics, Arts and Academics,” which stresses, among other things, the importance for a parent of not stealing a child’s thunder. It reads as a manifesto for a sensitive and low-pressure form of hothousing. Wayne spells out very specifically how a parent should approach his child after a match. “First, let your child come to you . . . ,” he writes. “Remember, this is her gig, not yours. You say you want to share her glory? No! Let her friends go up to her and share her moment.” And win or lose, the script is the same: First question: Do you want water or Gatorade? Second question: Where do you want to get something to eat? Third question, if the child is 16 or older: Do you want to drive or should I? “It’s really that simple,” he writes. “If the child wants to talk about the match, you listen. But don’t critique. . . . Your role is to minimize pressure, not create it.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I thought that would be pretty good advice for the stage moms and dads out there as well, with some obvious substitutions (Do you want a soy latte or shot of bourbon?), but is there anything you do\/did for your talented offspring that would add to the “minimize not create” stress mantra? I would give space to the “add more stress” option, but frankly every kid I remember meeting in those competition hallways was already stretched to the breaking point.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I came across an interesting article in the NYTimes about the identical-twin tennis super duo, Bob and Mike Bryan. Their dad, Wayne, wrote a book on how to foster talent in children, and the article includes this quote: In 2004, Wayne wrote a book, “Raising Your Child to Be a Champion in Athletics, Arts and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-201","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/gap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/gap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/gap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/gap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/gap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/gap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/gap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/gap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/gap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}