Of Dogs, Daycare, and Discipline: A ‘Genetic Guide to Parenting’?

James Tabery, PhD

Associate Professor of Philosophy
Adjunct Associate Professor of Medicine & Pediatrics
University of Utah

Consider the following three questions: Should parents buy their child a dog or a cat? Should parents send their infant to daycare? Should parents, when their toddler has a temper tantrum, respond with empathy directed at the child’s frustration or with punishment directed at the child’s misbehavior? Decisions about the family pet, childcare, and discipline are subjects of friendly debate and involve personal and familial evaluations of finances, schedules, and parenting philosophies. Might genetic information about the child figure into such decisions? Prof. Tabery will discuss recent developments in the whole genome sequencing of newborns to say why a “genetic guide to parenting” is a possibility, and then discuss the advantages and disadvantages of such a development.

4:00-5:00 pm Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Educational Center, Irving Institute for Clinical and Translational Research
Rooms 405A and B
10th Floor, Presbyterian Hospital (PH) Building
622 West 168 Street