Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Seven books about our parenting culture

Lenore Skenazy is a syndicated columnist, founder of www.freerangekids.com, and author of Free-Range Kids: Giving Our Children the Freedom We Had Without Going Nuts with Worry.

She compiled a list of seven fascinating books about our parenting culture. One book on her list:
A Nation of Wimps: The High Cost of Invasive Parenting by Hara Estroff Marano

When people ask me, “What do kids lose if we don’t let them go Free-Range?” I usually answer something like, “The joy of childhood! The exhilaration of shouting, ‘I DID IT MYSELF!!’” But in this book, Marano, an editor at Psychology Today, actually visits campuses to see how overprotected kids do once they are out on their own. She is troubled by what she finds: A lot of young adults unable to function, and even breaking down in record numbers. When parents try to do too much for their kids, she says, they end up hurting more than helping. Hers is a cautionary tale.
Read about the other six books on Skenazy's list.

Read an excerpt from Free-Range Kids and learn more about the book at the publisher's website.

Listen to author Lenore Skenazy discuss Free-Range Kids.

Watch author Lenore Skenazy discuss Free-Range Kids.

Visit the Free-Range Kids website.

Seven fascinating books about our parenting culture.

--Marshal Zeringue