Too Much of a Good Thing: Raising Children of Character in an Indulgent Age - Softcover

Kindlon, Dan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0786886242 ISBN 13: 9780786886241

Publisher: Miramax, 2003

Synopsis

While many adolescents today have all the useful accessories of a prosperous society-cell phones, credit cards, computers, cars-they have few of the responsibilities that build character. Under intense pressure to be perfect and achieve, they devote little time to an inner life, and a culture that worships instant success makes it hard for them to engage in the slow, careful building of the skills that enhance self-esteem and self-sufciency. In this powerful and provocative book, Dr. Kindlon delineates how indulged toddlers become indulged teenagers who are at risk for becoming prone to, among other things, excessive self-absorption, depression and anxiety, and lack of self-control. Too Much of a Good Thing maps out the ways in which parents can reach out to their children, teach them engagement in meaningful activity, and promote emotional maturity and a sense of self-worth. Dan Kindlon, Ph.D. is a professor of child psychology at Harvard University. He is a frequent contributor to Child magazine and is the co-author of Raising Cain, a New York Times best-seller. He lives in Boston with his wife and two children.

About this title

About the Author:

Dan Kindlon, Ph.D., teaches psychology at Harvard University, where he has been a faculty member for the past seventeen years. The co-author of Raising Cain, a New York Times bestseller, he lives in Boston with his wife and two children.

From Publishers Weekly:

Kindlon (coauthor of Raising Cain), a psychologist, has spent time surveying and speaking to parents and kids in an effort to understand teen-rearing today. In addition to a scientific survey (Parenting Practices at the Millennium), which focuses on issues such as whether today's teens consider themselves spoiled, how many use drugs, how many do household chores, what families have dinner together regularly, whether all or only rich kids have cell phones, etc., Kindlon also draws on anecdotal data. As a psychologist at various schools, he has listened to parents protesting the suspension of a son accused of plagiarism the parents didn't find anything wrong with taking material off the Internet. Students have told Kindlon that their parents are never home or, in some cases, when they expect a punishment, that their parents do nothing. Educators as well as parents and grandparents will effortlessly identify with many of the situations Kindlon describes. After all, particularly among the baby boomer generation with seemingly unlimited funds, as parents indulge themselves, it's fairly apparent that their children will do so as well. Kindlon offers sound, albeit brief, advice; in the chapter on life skills, for example, he urges parents to help their kids acquire interests that will hold their attention. He believes that even spending one hour a day with kids not necessarily at mealtime is helpful. While this book is handy, a better organization with chapter summaries of advice would have made it even stronger. (Aug.)Forecast: Given the author's track record with the bestselling Raising Cain, this book should perform well, especially with a 12-city author tour and national advertising campaign.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Miramax
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0786886242
• ISBN 13: 9780786886241
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288