What is the most important influence on child development | Tom Weisner | TEDxUCLA

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Published 2016-08-15
If you could do one thing - the most important thing - to influence the life of a young child, what would that be (it’s likely not what you first bring to mind)? We want to improve the wellbeing of children - our own, in our community, and in the world, so thinking globally about this question is vital.

Tom Weisner is an emeritus professor of anthropology and psychiatry at UCLA. He studies and teaches about culture and human development; families and children at risk; and evidence-informed policies to improve the lives of children and families. He has done research in Kenya on the effects on children and parents of rural-urban migration; in Delhi, India on families and children with autism; supports for working poor families in Wisconsin; families with children with disabilities in Los Angeles; hippie and countercultural families and children in California; sibling caretaking and education in Hawaii; non-parental and sibling caretaking around the world; and gratitude and school achievement among Latino adolescents and families in Los Angeles. He has served on the Board of the NGO ChildFund International. He went to Reed College (BA) and Harvard (PhD). He is married to Susan Meade Weisner, and has two sons and four beautiful grandchildren.


This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at ted.com/tedx
All Comments (21)
  • @TheYung209
    It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.
  • @pinksalmon9882
    The most important thing you can do for children is LOVE them. I saw poorest children in Cambodia, Indonesia and being SO happy. They don’t know they are missing an IPhone but they do know when parents don’t love them.
  • @Hiswordandme
    Loving your children involves so much more then feelings and affection. Love is giving them your time, your attention, helping them to emotional regulate, teaching them, guiding them, allowing them to develop relationships outside of the home, letting them pursue their interests. Love involves many things
  • @kzabidin5162
    In a nutshell, I think what he was trying to say is that the most important thing in child development is to develop the ability in a child to collaborate and be a useful member of a team/community/society regardless of environment/location.....and in order to do that the child must possess confidence in his/her abilities and be able to communicate effectively in that particular society...my two cents worth.
  • @saleemamoldozhanova
    loving a child is simple yet still necessary, more important is to RESPECT a child, listening, talking, sacrificing your time, your energy
  • @jamesmanning8269
    I’ve never heard the term “weird societies” but I think there’s a lot to that. It’s a great way to distinguish us from the whole world. It’s an idea that pulls us out of our stubborn beliefs of “this is the only way society works”
  • @myjellyrolly
    I feel like I just took five child development classes and two psychology classes. Not after the video, but after reading the comments.
  • @RPOjha-cu6lm
    I love small children from the core of my heart. We are joyful when we look at them smiling, playing and learning. It is our first and foremost duty to develop and train them very spontaneously and holistically. They're as delicate as the buds and flowers. Parents ignoring their children can not be pardoned. Tom very seriously deals with the child development.
  • @onlyinacj1
    I must have listened to this no less than 30 times. At times, I suffer from unrelenting insomnia, and this talk has proven to be an invaluable tool for said condition. I look forward to hearing this and it’s entirety.
  • @mildablah6345
    Telling your child the truth is very important. Never hide anything that they should know, this will help them understand more about life and will help them avoid many mistakes in their life. This in return will help them to respect their thoughts and feelings and learn to express them respondsibly and become better human beings. We as parents should always be our children best friend.
  • @selaphiel2485
    Our soul is made of LOVE. We have to Love each other in order to feel loved. What ever you do without LOVE is nothing. God is love. God loves you.
  • @battlestar79
    Loving, supporting/providing family. Interactions with other kids to learn/explore. Stable and safe household/environment. Access to quality healthcare and education.
  • @blueblaze332
    Helping them to grow up with enough empathy not to become sociopathic. Those children who give sticks to a grieving family helps them put themselves in this family’s shoes. Puts them in a position to be able to understand what it means to care. If we take a look at the bigger picture, imagine if everyone was more empathetic and understanding of others. If we raise a generation to become more empathetic society as a whole would be more accepting and loving. So would everyones individual lives. Empathy is genetic and learned. Some children will need to learn it more than others. Children who needed to learn it but weren’t taught or weren’t granted any growing up will have a much higher chance of developing a personality disorder. Give your child love, but also teach them what it’s like to feel what others feel; teach children to put themselves in the shoes of others.
  • @architecturaldream1
    So context, of which most people have no control over, most significantly affects a child. Wow! Revelatory!
  • @laurenadams3562
    Amazing Ted Talk Thank you for Opening My Eyes. I’m in Early Education College Courses and I’m about Early Education and truly Love it ❤
  • @far6311
    Not beating them down for having different opinions than yours. And remembering that you cannot make your child to be just like you, they are not your clone they are a completely different human being that you just so happened to create.