Under Pressure
How the Epidemic of Hyper-parenting Is Endangering Childhood
Book - 2008
From the bestselling author of In Praise of Slow comes a fascinating and urgent look at childhood today and how we are raising a generation of overprogrammed, overachieving, exhausted children. For generations of children, growing up was a pretty simple business: you went to school for a few hours a day, you dabbled in hobbies and sports, and the rest of the time you played. Or maybe you just day-dreamed. Carl Honore explains how our modern approach to children is backfiring: our kids are fatter, more myopic, more injured, more depressed and more medicated than any previous generation. By using children as a way to relive our own lives, or as a way to make up for our personal shortcomings, we have destroyed the magic and innocence of childhood. Hyper is not a parenting manual but a call to action; we must do better for our children. Using fascinating anecdotes about obsessive parents (including one about the father of a tennis player who drugged all his child's opponents), solid research and personal insight, Honore explains the over-parenting phenomenon, dispels myths and rallies for change in clear and persuasive prose. Topics explored include the use of technology as babysitting, how enrolling children in hours of extracurriculars every week can do more harm than good and how we underestimate the resilience of our children at the expense of their freedom.
Publisher:
[Toronto] : A.A. Knopf Canada, c2008.
ISBN:
9780676978414
067697841X
067697841X
Characteristics:
292 p. ;,23 cm.
Alternative Title:
Under pressure : rescuing childhood from the culture of hyper-parenting


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Add a CommentGood book with neat ideas. He's originally from Edmonton which made it even more interesting.
An amazing book-super interesting, highly recommend this it really will open your eyes. Just the right mix of facts and stories with suitable alternatives for those who want to change. A must read for new parents.