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A review by thehlb
The Idle Parent: Why Laid-Back Parents Raise Happier and Healthier Kids by Tom Hodgkinson
2.0
I feel bad giving this only 2 stars, but "it was okay" seems an apt summation.
I agree wholeheartedly with the overall premise of the book, which is that overparenting and helicoptering only makes kids less happy in the end.
The author's methods and some of his reasoning I do not agree with.
He seems to contradict himself on occasion when it seems convenient. He also implies that public education leads to an idea that we all must work like slaves for an evil wage and be happy about it and this is a bad thing. (Sorry fella, but not all of us can be writers and live on a farm.)
He also seems really, really into drinking, and nearly suggests that parents should spend their post bedtime hours drunk.
He is not just spouting forth his own opinion, he does borrow heavily from Locke and Rousseau, only less well written.
STILL, it was an interesting read, and I'd love if my friends read it if only to discuss.
I agree wholeheartedly with the overall premise of the book, which is that overparenting and helicoptering only makes kids less happy in the end.
The author's methods and some of his reasoning I do not agree with.
He seems to contradict himself on occasion when it seems convenient. He also implies that public education leads to an idea that we all must work like slaves for an evil wage and be happy about it and this is a bad thing. (Sorry fella, but not all of us can be writers and live on a farm.)
He also seems really, really into drinking, and nearly suggests that parents should spend their post bedtime hours drunk.
He is not just spouting forth his own opinion, he does borrow heavily from Locke and Rousseau, only less well written.
STILL, it was an interesting read, and I'd love if my friends read it if only to discuss.