If you’re a parent, a grandparent, or have ever been within five feet of a child, you know that kids ask why about everything.
Why is the sky blue?
Why can’t I eat dessert first?
Why do we have to pay taxes?
Okay—maybe not that last one. But they should be asking it, and if they read our books, I bet they have.
I’ve always thought it’s really sad how at some point the curiosity to always wonder “why” ends for most people.
(I’m willing to bet it is directly tied to years spent in public education, but that’s a topic for another email.)
One of the most valuable things we can do as parents is encourage our kids to not only keep their intellectual curiosity, but to build on it by teaching them how to reason through and troubleshoot the new ideas they encounter.
This is especially true as you start to talk to your kids about politics and policy.
“And then what happens?” is one of the most important questions a thinking person can ask.
It gets to the heart of consequences, incentives, tradeoffs—all the stuff that most politicians and central planners conveniently ignore (or purposely hide.)
When we first introduced this concept to kids in The Tuttle Twins and the Road to Surfdom (inspired by Hayek’s classic The Road to Serfdom), the goal was to help young readers understand what happens when well-meaning policies lead to their inevitable (even if unintended) consequences.
We showed how even ideas dressed up in good intentions usually lead to more people being hurt than helped.
Surfdom was a great first-step, but with our newest book, The Tuttle Twins Guide to the World’s Worst Ideas, we’ve cranked up the volume.
Check out this Table of Contents:
We expose some of the most disastrous ideas ever sold to the public—from censorship and climate change to fiat money and gun control. We walk through how these ideas were pitched, how they were pushed, and, most importantly, what happened next.
Critical thinkers can’t be satisfied with slogans or surface-level appeals. They must look at outcomes, ask questions, and refuse to be spoon-fed a narrative without first closely examining the ingredients.
If we want our kids to grow up with the kind of clarity and courage it takes to remain immune to propaganda, we need to teach them to look well beyond the headlines. We need to teach them how to recognize how ideas will play out in the real world.
Especially when those ideas come from people with power.
And that’s exactly what this new guidebook is designed to do.
Today is the last day of our launch special, where you can get the 7-guidebook bundle for only $109.99.
Because the future belongs to those who ask better questions.
It belongs to the people who see powerful people promoting so-called solutions to the world’s problems and can ask with clarity and curiosity:
And then what happens?
— Connor
