The Gardener and the Carpenter: What the New Science of Child Development Tells Us About the Relationship Between Parents and Children

by Alison Gopnik

Part of the point of parents and especially grandparents is to provide a sense of cultural history and continuity. Our children’s lives would be poorer without that sense of a connection to the past. To be a parent, as opposed to parenting, is to be a bridge between the past and the future.