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caaleros's review against another edition
4.0
I'm not the intended audience for this book, but I was interested in the anthropological and memoir aspects of it. Doucleff makes a lot of good points about our culture and provides alternatives perspectives on how children can be raised. I appreciated the historical context that showed how western cultures got their ideas about child raising. There was a lot of how-to aspects that got a bit tedious but, like I said, I'm not the intended audience so I'm sure parents will find the information and tips for application helpful. There are definitely ideas in the book that my western mind immediately distrusted, but that's not surprising. Ultimately there were a lot of interesting things to consider about how we interact with and view children in our culture.
krover's review against another edition
5.0
I honestly can't express how transformational lots of aspects of this book were to my life and parenting my kid. I had such guilt about hating playing with my kid when he wanted me to and was forever stressed about him getting in the way of me being able to do things around the house. Now, I never play with his toys unless I want to (I don't, we play board games instead) and he helps me around the house even if he's not great at it. He loves to help and be a part of our lives. When he sees me reading, he gets a book and wants to read with me. Sleep and eating foods he doesn't want to are the only hangups even now. But even some good tactics are worth it!
asevcik's review against another edition
4.0
This was the parenting book I needed. I took my time getting through this one. And have worked on implementing some of the strategies but I think that will be beneficial in the long run as I didn’t have an overload of information all at once. I will recommend this book to any parent forever and always. There were a few things in this book I probably won’t use just from my childhood experiences make it hard for me to accept them even if they do work, however, the majority of the things mentioned in this book will be life changing for me and my family. Also, the validation in this book was what I needed as a new-ish mom.
hollydyer328's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
The first sentence of the book, "I remember the moment I hit rock bottom as a mom," sold me right away. I really enjoyed this book and felt like it came to me at the right moment in my parenting life. Michaeleen Doucleff uses her observations and interviews of parents & children in Maya, Inuit, and Hadzabe communities, and distills into main takeaways and tips that parents from Western cultures are most likely not doing and can pick up. I enjoyed the writing style overall and especially enjoyed her vulnerability and openness with her own struggles as a mom. It was inspiring to see how she used the tips to dramatically improve her child's behavior. There's a lot to think about, many things I haven't considered and want to incorporate or do differently. My main critique is that this book needs a different title! It's too corny and distorts the expectations for the reader. So if you can get over the title, the content is promising.
imperfectlypaigewellness's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
5.0
Honestly fantastic. I learned a ton from this book and will be sure to reference it in the future!
cmross722's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
4.0
This book has great tips and tools that I’m excited to try in my own parenting. The stories of the author learning about other cultures and trying to implement new parenting strategies with her daughter were funny, helpful and enlightening. I do wish there were more practical examples of how to carry out some of her insights in Western culture, but her basic formula and observations seem easy enough to follow. Overall I’m glad I read it.