Yuko Munakata: The science behind how parents affect child development | TED

Visit to get our entire library of TED Talks, transcripts, translations, personalized talk recommendations and more. Parents, take a deep breath: how your kids turn out isn’t fully on you. Of course, parenting plays an important role in shaping who children become, but psychologist Yuko Munakata offers an alternative, research-backed reality that highlights how it’s just one of many factors that influence the chaotic complexity of childhood development. A rethink for anyone wondering what made them who they are today and what it means to be a good parent. 0:00 Intro 0:53 Why most parenting advice is wrong 1:50 Hurricane children vs. butterfly parents 2:53 The myth of inherited success (or struggle) 5:25 Can you predict who a child becomes? 8:19 Same event, different experience 9:59 The mystery of parenting 11:45 Stop the blame game 12:56 What you learn parenting terminally ill children 15:10 Why parenting is about staying in the moment The TED Talks channel features the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world’s leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design — plus science, business, global issues, the arts and more. You’re welcome to link to or embed these videos, forward them to others and share these ideas with people you know. Become a TED Member: Follow TED on Twitter: Like TED on Facebook: Subscribe to our channel: TED’s videos may be used for non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons License, Attribution–Non Commercial–No Derivatives (or the CC BY – NC – ND 4.0 International) and in accordance with our TED Talks Usage Policy (). For more information on using TED for commercial purposes (e.g. employee learning, in a film or online course), please submit a Media Request at