How To Raise An Adult: Break Free Of The Overparenting Trap And Prepare Your Kid For Success

Description

In How to Raise an Adult, Julie Lythcott-Haims draws on research, on conversations with admissions officers, educators, and employers, and on her own insights as a mother and as a student dean to highlight the ways in which overparenting harms children, their stressed-out parents, and society at large.

While empathizing with the parental hopes and, especially, fears that lead to overhelping, Lythcott-Haims offers practical alternative strategies that underline the importance of allowing children to make their own mistakes and develop the resilience, resourcefulness, and inner determination necessary for success. Relevant to parents of toddlers as well as of twentysomethings-and of special value to parents of teens-this book is a rallying cry for those who wish to ensure that the next generation can take charge of their own lives with competence and confidence.

Reviews

The "Black Hawk Down" of helicopter parenting --New York Times

In this timely and bracing work, Julie Lythcott-Haims chronicles the many dangers of overparenting--from thwarting children's growth to hurting their job prospects to damaging parents' own well-being. Then she charts a smart, compassionate alternative approach that treats kids as wildflowers to be nourished rather than bonsai trees to be cultivated. For parents who want to foster hearty self-reliance instead of hollow self-esteem, How to Raise an Adult is the right book at the right time DANIEL H. PINK, author of the New York Times bestseller Drive 

This is the stuff of the best parenting advice ... A worthwhile read for every parent ... Our children are engaged in the serious work of becoming an adult. With this book, Lythcott-Haims provides the missing user manual --The Chicago Tribune

In her easy-to-read prose ... the author does a superb job of laying out the facts ... Her advice is sound and obviously much needed ... if parents want to raise productive adults --Kirkus Reviews

Lythcott-Haims presents a convincing vision of overprotected, overparented, overscheduled kids ... After presenting the problem in detail (through interviews with college admissions officers, educators, parents, and others), she offers a number of viable solutions ... This vigorous text will give parents the backup needed to make essential changes Publishers Weekly Witty, wise, and dead-on, Lythcott-Haims is a tonic for what ails this generation of kids and parents. A must-read for every parent who senses that there is a healthier and saner way to raise our children --MADELINE LEVINE, author of the New York Times bestsellers The Price of Privilege

Wise, honest, compassionate and deeply informed, How to Raise an Adult ought to be at the top of everybody's stack of parenting books. --WILLIAM DERESIEWICZ, author of the New York Times bestseller Excellent Sheep