THE COMING PARENT REVOLUTION

by Jeane Westin ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 19, 1981

Down with the experts! Forget child-centered psychology! Hurrah for the New Traditional family! These are the rallying cries for Westin's so-called revolution--but it all comes down to ""take-charge"" discipline (make Little League contingent on perfect school behavior, search teens' rooms if you suspect drug use); yet another parents' bill of rights (this one including even the right to be loved); and ""family-centered"" activities (""family encounter weekends"" and mandatory weekly family nights). These back-to-basics suggestions are supposed to restore ""parental self-esteem"" eroded by parenting experts, ""Big Daddy government,"" ""Big Mama education,"" and the media with its hype of ""anti-family"" values. Westin writes with the zeal of a convert: she reared her daughter ""democratically,"" nurtured her self-esteem, protected her from emotional pain--and ended up with a teen-ager ""impossible to live with."" She also quotes parents with experiences worse than her own, even to a chapter on physical abuse of parents. What's not clear, though, is where the ""discipline is love"" theory takes a family when a teenager doesn't stop sleeping around, or a child utterly refuses to watch old home movies with mom and dad (her own daughter shaped up and came to love those family nights). Finally, then, too many horror stories of parents who've lost control, and too little substance for those who want to change.

Pub Date: Oct. 19, 1981

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Rand, McNally

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1981

Categories: NONFICTION