Scan barcode
A review by bibliophagy
Hold on to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers by Gabor Maté, Gordon Neufeld
2.0
oof. ive enjoyed multiple gabor maté books, but perhaps he was not the primary author here. this book has some good points to offer but is so badly written that it's hard to take much useful information away.
the first 60% of this text exclusively served to stress me out and piss me off -- pejorative and paternalistic fearmongering, taking again and again from worst case scenario horror stories in an attempt to prove a basic point that attachment between parents and children is important.
starting in chapter 14, there are a few ideas for re-establishing lost and/or damaged attachment with children; but, even still, there is major focus on anxiety and fear and less on cultivating the type of baseline relationships that would cultivate truly healthy, bonded attachment with parents and their children.
this book would have been more successful for me if it had been more grounded, play- and pleasure-oriented, rather than anxiety-ridden and ominous. it's important that professionals model the type of energy that will be useful to parents to utilize with their children.
the first 60% of this text exclusively served to stress me out and piss me off -- pejorative and paternalistic fearmongering, taking again and again from worst case scenario horror stories in an attempt to prove a basic point that attachment between parents and children is important.
starting in chapter 14, there are a few ideas for re-establishing lost and/or damaged attachment with children; but, even still, there is major focus on anxiety and fear and less on cultivating the type of baseline relationships that would cultivate truly healthy, bonded attachment with parents and their children.
this book would have been more successful for me if it had been more grounded, play- and pleasure-oriented, rather than anxiety-ridden and ominous. it's important that professionals model the type of energy that will be useful to parents to utilize with their children.