I picked up Bringing Up Geeks: How to Protect Your Kid's Childhood in a Grow-Up-Too-Fast World
by Marybeth Hicks up at the library on a whim. As the parent of a four year old, I'm interested in ideas to do a better job as a parent. I suspect that most parents don't want their kids growing up too fast, don't want them chasing the latest fad, don't want them trying oral sex when they are twelve -- at least not their daughters. If the goal of this book is to convince you of these ideas, it is successful. However, the author fails to deal with the challenges of parenting honestly. With four children, surely she has faced some challenges. By and large, she does not share them. Instead, the anecdotes in this book are of how perfect her children are. When it is necessary to tell an unpleasant anecdote, it is usually a friend or a letter from a reader. So if you want to read 304 pages about how perfect Marybeth Hicks and her kids are, have at it. Take that ride in her minivan. If you want an open, honest, solution-based discussion of how to raise your child, look elsewhere.
by Marybeth Hicks up at the library on a whim. As the parent of a four year old, I'm interested in ideas to do a better job as a parent. I suspect that most parents don't want their kids growing up too fast, don't want them chasing the latest fad, don't want them trying oral sex when they are twelve -- at least not their daughters. If the goal of this book is to convince you of these ideas, it is successful. However, the author fails to deal with the challenges of parenting honestly. With four children, surely she has faced some challenges. By and large, she does not share them. Instead, the anecdotes in this book are of how perfect her children are. When it is necessary to tell an unpleasant anecdote, it is usually a friend or a letter from a reader. So if you want to read 304 pages about how perfect Marybeth Hicks and her kids are, have at it. Take that ride in her minivan. If you want an open, honest, solution-based discussion of how to raise your child, look elsewhere. A somewhat-related book that I though was much better is Richard Louv's Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder
-- It is less preachy and more based on research in addition to just anecdotes.
-- It is less preachy and more based on research in addition to just anecdotes. 
1 comment:
Uh, okay. I don't think that Louv would disagree. He's not talking about taking the kids into the Frank Church Wilderness, he's talking about the backyard. Or about how kids at the park often prefer to play in the "fringe" areas instead of the sanitary playground. He's talking about being outside, period. He's talking about being alone, and having unstructured times. Even if there are bee stings. Even if fishing is boring. All the better. Thus grounded in the real world (not the artificial realities that exist inside our buildings), then maybe the kids won't turn into kooks.
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