The last chapter of A Nation of Wimps offers 11 very good suggestions for parents:

Let children play
Eat dinner together regularly
Learn how to criticize your children constructively
Let children find their own rewards for achievement
Quit hovering
Stop turning parenting into a [perfectionist’s] profession
Teach children how to tolerate discomfort
Learn how to praise children for the right things
Encourage your children to problem solve and take risks
Let your kids fail
Give your kids increasing responsibility for managing their own lives as they get older
Take your own brains back and get out of panic mode (i.e. be more rational & look at challenges in childrens’ lives as opportunities to make them problem solvers, not robots)

Great list.

The 255 pages BEFORE this list . . . meh.

The author’s main goal is to prove that the “wimpy” generation, (AKA current college-aged students): flunk out of college, self-mutilate, commit suicide and just can’t handle life due to over-zealous parenting (defined as parents who, among other things, choose: excessive amounts of adult-led activities, homeschooling, expensive gadgetry esp. cell phones , internet monitoring, etc. . . . )

While I totally agree that Alpha-Parenting (AKA “helicopter parenting”) is harmful, the things the author takes pot-shots at are sometimes ridiculous (e.g. she argues that parents who provide GPS phones to make themselves and their kids feel safer are “infantilizing” children).

Her Nietzsche-esque message, (pounded out for 255 pages before the last chapter . . . and almost in spite of it): “Parents, it’s OK, even desirable to unplug from your children and leave their asses hanging in the wind.”

As a “moderate” parent (neither a hoverer nor a free reigner . . . ), I feel she has it half-right . . . but I question what percentage of parents need a book like this to give them more excuses to be disconnected parents . . . when I look around I think there are more parents who don’t parent at all than those who overdo. There are a helluva lot more social problems created by them than by the Alpha parents, who are mostly just annoying as hell.

When the author started expounding the virtues of Sudbury Valley Schools though, which have few set curriculum standards and allow children to choose their own curricula . . . I totally tuned out . . . any theory that is grounded in the idea that American schools and homes need less structure seems extremely misguided at best . . .