Book Review, Summary, Highlights and Quotes from How to Raise Successful People by Esther Wojcicki
My wife and I have one main goal in life and that is to raise resilient, productive children, who can forge their own path.
On top of that goal, we also want to build great relationships with our kids (it’s a life mantra after all).
And while I feel like I have been pretty conscious about how we are raising our kids, it is still hard as hell, and so I wanted to dive into a highly rated parenting book to see what more I can learn.
I picked up How to Raise Successful People by Esther Wojcicki and it turned out to be a very good and entertaining parenting book. She’s not a psychologist or scholar – she is a teacher and most of all a mother and grandmother. That is a large part of why this book resonated for me.
Now, some will argue that Esther is a bit braggadocio at times. Her own children really are successful, and she references them quite a lot. But in my mind she is mostly backing up her thesis with her own real-life examples.
Her T.R.I.C.K. acronym is a bit funky, but let’s face it. These are the values that you want to raise your kids with:
- Trust
- Respect
- Independence
- Collaboration
- Kindness
If I can raise my kids to competent, kind, and resilient humans, then it doesn’t matter what the heck we call our parenting style.
How to Raise Successful People is a high level book. There are no down and dirty secrets, though she does have some good advice and examples of things that she has done with her own children or students.
Each child is different in their own way, and Esther’s approach is more about building a high level parenting foundation that will help your kids to earn trust, independence, kindness, respect, and become resilient humans.
AR’s Book Score: 7 out of 10
Key Book Highlights from How to Raise Successful People by Esther Wojcicki
The book is split into 5 main sections each aligning with Esther’s core parenting method that she calls T.R.I.C.K.:
- Trust
- Respect
- Independence
- Collaboration
- Kindness
Each section is either a chapter or two that informs the trait being discussed.
Much of Esther’s philosophy is geared towards raising kids who are resilient, respectful, and self-driven.
She wanted her kids to be able to go off into the world and do great things – not live in fear of rejection or needing their hand held.
In each section Esther offers up ways in which we can do just that.
She weaves in stories from her personal experience as the head of Palo Alto High School’s journalism program, and her parenting experience raising two successful daughters.
Best Quotes from How to Raise Successful People by Esther Wojcicki
You have to trust that you know what’s best for your child and your family.
– Ester Wojcicki, How to Raise Successful People
Don’t beat yourself up when you make mistakes. The person you need to forgive is yourself
– Ester Wojcicki, How to Raise Successful People
Failure is part of learning. If you do something perfectly the first time, there is no learning.
– Ester Wojcicki, How to Raise Successful People
[Parenting] is your chance to pass on your core principles and values, and to use all of your wisdom and insight in order to improve someone else’s life.
– Ester Wojcicki, How to Raise Successful People
The painful and difficult experiences are often how we grow. Our goal is not to take these challenges and the growth that results from them away from our children – the fatal flaw of helicopter parenting – but to help our children face these challenges and learn from them.
– Ester Wojcicki, How to Raise Successful People
We forget how important we are in the lives of our children, how much control we have in shaping their confidence and self-image. And it all starts with trust.
– Ester Wojcicki, How to Raise Successful People
You want your child to want to be with you, not need to be with you.
– Ester Wojcicki, How to Raise Successful People
Parents need to calm down. Your kids will walk. They will talk. They will learn to use the bathroom. They’ll do it in their own time.
– Ester Wojcicki, How to Raise Successful People
Parents need to calm down. Your kids will walk. They will talk. They will learn to use the bathroom. They’ll do it in their own time.
– Ester Wojcicki, How to Raise Successful People
Enforcing high standard only works when kids can bring some passion to what they’re doing. You want them to be successful in whatever they pick, not what you pick.
– Ester Wojcicki, How to Raise Successful People
Nobody is happy living a life that’s dictated by someone else. If there’s one thing I’ve learned as a mother and teacher, it’s that kids of all ages need their independence.
– Ester Wojcicki, How to Raise Successful People
I always thought their homework was just that: their homework.
– Ester Wojcicki, How to Raise Successful People
Too many kids have too many toys. Electronic games, Lego sets, high-tech bikes, rooms so full of stuff that they can’t use it all. [..] We all want to give our kids a better or abundant life, but overindulgence can rob them of the desire to work hard for something.
– Ester Wojcicki, How to Raise Successful People
No matter the family income, I strongly suggest all teens get jobs. There is no better way to learn about how the real world works.
– Ester Wojcicki, How to Raise Successful People
Too many parents are focused on winning. Our main goal is to make our kids successful, and our main fear is that they can’t succeed without our help.
– Ester Wojcicki, How to Raise Successful People
We’re chasing money and possessions. Not service, not purpose. If we have a purpose at all, it’s to make ourselves happy. But if there’s one thing I know, it’s this: You’re happiest – as well as most beneficial to society – when you are doing things to help others.
– Ester Wojcicki, How to Raise Successful People
My suggestion is not to retire, ever. Instead, how about a mini-retirement rewiring yourself as a volunteer or mentor?
– Ester Wojcicki, How to Raise Successful People
Parenting is never just about the children: it’s about the adults they become. The citizens they become. The changes they fight for and the ideas they contribute.
– Ester Wojcicki, How to Raise Successful People
More from Esther Wojcicki
- Website: moonshotsedu.com
- Twitter: @EstherWojcicki
- Videos:
- Empowering Students – Esther Wojcicki
Howdy AR,
Thanks for the book review. I’m in the thick of parenthood and am really trying my best to be a good dad.
If you’re interested in doing a another book review, I can have Portfolio Penguin send you a hardcopy version of my upcoming book, Buy This, Not That: How To Spend Your Way To Wealth And Freedom. It comes out July 19, 2022 and I’m in marketing mode until then.
Obviously I’m biased, but I think BTNT will be one of the best personal finance books once published.
Shoot me an e-mail if interested!
Thanks,
Sam
Yep, we traded some private emails, but I certainly am always open to reading a finance book, especially from another blogger I know!
Parenthood is HARD. Everyone is trying the best for their kids, but it doesn’t make it any easier!
Sounds like basic common sense. Certainly how I was raised and how we raised our three millennials.
Yes absolutely. A lot of common sense to be sure!