Adult Development: Emergent Wisdom in the Family Context

Everyone accepts that the adult influences the child but few realize how much the child changes the adult. This scholarly work centers on adult development that is influenced by nurturing the child’s developmental imperatives. It is a mixed-methods study that explores the lived experiences of adults when they intentionally focus on nurturing the development of their children. The research captures twenty mothers’ and fathers’ perspectives about their development from using child development principles. Analysis results identified five themes: (a) cognitive development in perspective, differentiation from past ways, and new meaning-making; (b) emotional development of trust, empathy, and affective complexity; (c) personal agency of intentional effort and use of critical self-inquiry; (d) adult well- being; and (e) emergence of wisdom. This book is a valuable resource for therapists, teachers, social workers, students, and parents. This is an important contribution to the knowledge of how parenting can support the growth and self-knowledge of adults who make intentional efforts to use child development practices in daily life.