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

Kindlon, Dan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0786867272 ISBN 13: 9780786867271

Publisher: Miramax, 2001

Synopsis

More and more children are growing up without a clear sense of financial or emotional limits. The number of households with incomes between $100,000 and $200,000 more than doubled in the last ten years. The Washington Post recently reported findings from U.S. Bancorp that even lower-income families are buying and spending more than ever on their children. But whether the cause is over-indulgence due to a new affluence or over-compensation for a lack of time spent with themespecially when both parents are workingmany parents have created a world where their childrens every need and desire is instantly fulfilled. But, as Dr. Kindlon points out, the one thing money cant buy for children is character. Dr. Kindlon shows that many of todays parents are spoiling their children, for many different reasons. Identifying Seven Sins of Indulgence: Disrespectfulness, Goal-lessness, Narcissism, Naivet, Amorality, Inability to Tolerate Boredom, and Underachievement, Dr. Kindlon guides parents toward helping their childrenand themselvesunderstand the consequences of giving too much and expecting too little. Of vital interest, both to families and to all concerned about future consequences to a generation of children surrounded by a sea of new choices and a lack of responsibilities, Too Much of a Good Thing delivers important advice and guidelines that no parent should be without.

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: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0786867272
• ISBN 13: 9780786867271
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288