Queen Bee Moms & Kingpin Dads: Coping with the Parents, Teachers, Coaches, and Counselors Who Can Rule--or Ruin --Your Child's Life

Wiseman, Rosalind; Rapoport, Elizabeth

ISBN 10: 0739325043 ISBN 13: 9780739325049

Publisher: Random House Audio, 2006

Synopsis

What happens to Queen Bees and Wannabes when they grow up?

Even the most well-adjusted moms and dads can experience peer pressure and conflicts with other adults that make them act like they’re back in seventh grade. In Queen Bee Moms & Kingpin Dads, Rosalind Wiseman gives us the tools to handle difficult situations involving teachers and other parents with grace. Reassuring, funny, and unfailingly honest, Wiseman reveals:

· Why PTA meetings and Back-to-School nights tap into parents’ deepest insecurities

· How to recognize the archetypal moms and dads—from Caveman Dad to Hovercraft Mom

· How and when to step in and step out of your child’s conflicts with other children, parents, teachers, or coaches

· How to interpret the code phrases other parents use to avoid (or provoke) confrontation

· Why too many well-meaning dads sit on the sidelines, and how vital it is that they step up to the plate

· What to do and say when the playing field becomes an arena for people to bully and dominate other kids and adults

· How to have respectful yet honest conversations with other parents about sex and drugs when your values are in conflict

· How the way you handle parties, risky behavior, and academic performance affects your child

· How unspoken assumptions about race, religion, and other hot-button subjects sabotage parents’ ability to work together

Queen Bee Moms & Kingpin Dads is filled with the kind of true stories that made Wiseman’s New York Times bestselling book Queen Bees & Wannabes impossible to put down. There are tales of hardworking parents with whom any of us can identify, along with tales of outrageously bad parents—the kind we all have to reckon with. For instance, what do you do when parents donate a large sum of money to a school and their child is promptly transferred into the honors program–while your son with better grades doesn’t make the cut? What about the mother who helps her daughter compose poison-pen e-mails to yours? And what do you say to the parent-coach who screams at your child when the team is losing? Wiseman offers practical advice on avoiding the most common parenting “land mines” and useful scripts to help you navigate difficult but necessary conversations.

Queen Bee Moms & Kingpin Dads is essential reading for parents today. It offers us the tools to become wiser, more relaxed parents–and the inspiration to speak out, act according to our values, show humility, and set the kind of example that will make a real difference in our children’s lives.
Also available as a Random House AudioBook and as an eBook
From the Hardcover edition.

About this title

Review

8 Things You'll Learn from Queen Bee Moms & Kingpin Dads

Rosalind Wiseman was gracious enough to give us a sneak peek at the advice found in her new book, and we're kind enough to share. So, if you've ever found yourself in any of the following situations, Queen Bee Moms & Kingpin Dads is the book for you:

1. Your kid, who attends every practice diligently, gets lots of "pine time" on the bench, while other kids who aren't nearly as good get more play time. Should you say anything to the coach?

2. Your daughter fights with her best friend, who shuts her out of the clique. The best friend's Mom says, "I really think the girls should work it out, don't you?"

3. An angry father shouts down the principal at the PTA meeting, saying, "I know I speak for all parents here when I say..." while you disagree completely. Should you speak up?

4. You walk by two women and overhear them saying about a girl nearby, "She looks like such a slut." That's your daughter they're talking about. Should you confront them?

5. Your son goes to a party where there's drinking. When the cops bust up the party, your kid gets suspended too, even though he wasn't drinking. Should you protest?

6. Your daughter doesn't get invited to "the" party of the season, which is being given by one of her good friends. Should you call the other mother?

7. They're putting the squeeze on you to join yet another school committee, but you're already stretched thin with your full-time job. How can you say no?

8. The principal busts your kid for cheating, and now his chances for getting into a good college are ruined. It was a one-time offense, and you think the principal is making too big a deal of the incident. Should you challenge the school to get it expunged from his high school transcript?

About the Author

Rosalind Wiseman is a cofounder of the Empower Program, a nonprofit organization that empowers youth to stop violence, and the author of the New York Times bestselling Queen Bees & Wannabes, the basis for the movie Mean Girls. She lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband and two children. Readers can visit her website at rosalindwiseman.com.

Elizabeth Rapoport was the editor of Rosalind Wiseman’s Queen Bees & Wannabes. A full-time editor, writer, and life coach, she lives in White Plains, New York, with her husband and their two teenagers.
From the Hardcover edition.

About this edition

• Publisher: Random House Audio
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0739325043
• ISBN 13: 9780739325049
• Binding: Audio CD