The Collapse of Parenting: How We Hurt Our Kids When We Treat Them Like Grown-Ups - Hardcover

Sax, Leonard

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0465048978 ISBN 13: 9780465048977

Publisher: Basic Books, 2015

Synopsis

In The Collapse of Parenting, physician, psychologist, and internationally acclaimed author Leonard Sax presents data documenting a dramatic decline in the achievement and psychological health of American children. Sax argues that rising levels of obesity, depression, and anxiety among young people—as well as the explosion in prescribing psychiatric medications to kids—can all be traced to parents letting their kids call the shots.

Many parents are afraid of seeming too dictatorial and end up abdicating their authority rather than taking a stand with their own children. If kids refuse to eat anything green and demand pizza instead, some parents give in, inadvertently raising children who are more likely to become obese. If children are given smartphones and allowed to spend the bulk of their free time texting, playing video games, and surfing the Internet, they become increasingly reliant on peers and the media for guidance on how to live, rather than getting such guidance at home. And if they won't sit still in class or listen to adults, they're often prescribed medication, a quick fix that actually undermines their self-control. In short, Sax argues, parents are failing to prioritize the parent-child relationship and are allowing a child-peer dynamic to take precedence. The result is children who have no absolute standard of right and wrong, who lack discipline, and who look to their peers and the Internet for direction, instead of looking to their parents.

But there is hope. Sax shows how parents can help their kids by reasserting their authority by limiting time with screens, by encouraging better habits at the dinner table and at bedtime, and by teaching humility and perspective. Drawing on more than twenty-five years of experience as a family physician and psychologist, along with hundreds of interviews with children, parents, and teachers across the United States and around the world, Sax offers a blueprint parents can use to refresh and renew their relationships with their children to help their children thrive in an increasingly complicated world.

About this title

About the Author

Leonard Sax MD PhD graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) at the age of 19, and then went on to the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned both a PhD in psychology, and an MD. He completed a 3-year residency in family practice in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. For 19 years, Dr. Sax was a practicing family physician in Maryland, just outside Washington DC. In 2005, Doubleday published his first book Why Gender Matters; an updated edition will be published in 2017. His second book, Boys Adrift, was published in 2007; an updated edition will be published in June 2016. His third book Girls on the Edge was published in 2010. His fourth book The Collapse of Parenting was published by Basic Books in December 2015.
Dr. Sax has spoken on issues of child and adolescent development not only in the United States but also in Australia, Bermuda, Canada, England, Germany, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Scotland, Spain, and Switzerland. He has visited more than 380 schools since 2001. He has appeared on the TODAY Show, CNN, National Public Radio, Fox News, PBS, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the British Broadcasting Corporation, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, New Zealand Television, and many other national and international media. 
Dr. Sax now lives with his wife and daughter in Chester County, Pennsylvania. He returned to clinical practice, in Pennsylvania, in 2013. His favorite activities are hiking in the woods, and making music with his wife and daughter (he plays piano). You can reach Dr. Sax directly, or visit his Facebook page, via his web site leonardsax.com.

Review

Chicago Tribune
Sax's book isn't available for purchase until late December, but if his message strikes a chord, it may be worth a preorder.... [Sax is] sounding some alarms that we'd do well to heed, and for our kids' sakes, I think sooner is better than later.”

Booklist
[Sax's] guidelines are clear and well-supported.”

Treehugger.com
The Collapse of Parenting may sound like a lone voice in the world of American parenting these days, but it's a desperately needed one...If you're going to read a single parenting book this year, please make it this one.”

Dr. Bill Bennett
The family unit is in unprecedented decline and under assault from a wide variety of cultural forces. With years of experience and research working directly with parents and children, Dr. Leonard Sax provides an important glimpse into parenting in modern times, where it's gone wrong, and how to fix it. Being a parent has never been more important and Dr. Sax explains how to avoid parenting pitfalls and raise your children well.”
A New York Times Bestseller

Meg Meeker, M.D. nationally best-selling author of Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters and Strong Mothers, Strong Sons
One of the premier experts on parenting, Dr. Leonard Sax brilliantly articulates the problems parents experience with their children, then gives solutions. The Collapse of Parenting is academic but practical, simple but deep. If you have time to read only one book this year, read this one.”

New York Journal of Books
If you're going to read one book on parenting this year, make it The Collapse of Parenting by Leonard Sax. What makes a good nonfiction instructional book is an author who has extensive real world experience in the subject matter and who has the ability to write clearly. Leonard Sax has both.... This is quite simply a good book that is easily read and will provide sound advice for giving our children the best chance to succeed in life.”

Kirkus
A comprehensive breakdown of where parents have gone awry and how they can get back on track to teach virtue and character to their children.... Sax provides a series of easy-to-follow solutions that help bring parents and children back to the same page, working toward a healthier, more respectful, and conscientious attitude.... With the author's solid advice, parents have a good shot at achieving these goals.”

Edition details

• Publisher: Basic Books
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0465048978
• ISBN 13: 9780465048977
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304