1KHO 924: What High Achieving Families Have in Common | Susan Dominus, The Family Dynamic

Ginny Yurich (0:34)

Hey, friends, welcome back to The 1000 Hours Outside Podcast. Thank you for spending part of your day with me. Before we jump in, I want to remind you that if you love the ideas we talk about here, kids having more independence, more play, more time in the real world, and a childhood that isn't completely consumed by screens, I wrote an entire book about it. It's called Until the Streetlights Come On. And if you've been listening to this podcast for a while, but haven't read it yet, I would love for you to pick up a copy.

It really gets to the heart of why we started 1000 Hours Outside in the first place. Until the Streetlights Come On has almost 5,000 reviews on Goodreads with a 4.3 star rating. My mom only reads books that are a 4 or above on Goodreads, so this one would be approved by my mother. I also have a book to encourage you on your homeschool journey called Homeschooling. And that one is doing even better review wise. It has 4.4 stars on Goodreads. Both books will enhance your todays and your tomorrows. And make sure you're following the podcast, because John Gordon will be here tomorrow. Mitch Prinstein is coming up to talk about what actually makes someone popular. And later this week, we have a rather spooky conversation with John Billman about people who disappear in the wilderness. Today's guest is Susan Dominus, a staff writer for the New York Times Magazine and the author of The Family Dynamic. She spent years looking at families that produce not just one extraordinary successful child, but several and asking what was happening inside those homes. It's a fascinating topic. Here is Susan Dominus.

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I have just read an absolutely fascinating book about successful siblings. It is so interesting and I never even really considered the topic before. And I have the amazing honor to get the opportunity to talk to the author of The Family Dynamic, Susan Dominus. Welcome.

Susan Dominus (4:22)

Thank you so much, Ginny. It's such a pleasure to be here.

Ginny Yurich (4:25)

So this is about a journey into the mystery of sibling success. And I was just fascinated from page one. So can you give the background where you talk in the book about how you were interested in this topic? And I felt the same way. I don't know if this is a common thing, but I remember going to friends' houses in elementary school.

And you start to notice the differences. What do they do? And then you realize you have this kind of aha moment that not every family operates in the same way.

And so you have this, you know, like they're doing dinnertime different. And so you're interested as a young child. And then as you get older, you're like, I would love to read a book about families of, you know, where all the kids are successful. And you're a you're a staff writer at the New York Times magazine, your journalist graduated from Yale, you're also you also teach journalism. You're like, well, the book doesn't exist. So I'm going to write it. So talk to us about those early childhood experiences of kind of being wide eyed and seeing that other families do things differently.