Ask the Children: What America's Children Really Think About Working Parents [Hardcover]

Ellen Galinsky (Author), Judy David (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 22, 1999

The book contains the results of the author’s in-depth interviews and representative surveys of how children view their parents working. The author presents the first comprehensive study ever conducted that asks children and parents their views on work and family life. This book was five years in the making. The author covers all the typical areas of thinking today about parents whom work and their children. The result is stereotypes are destroyed and politically correct ideas challenged. The reader will find practical advice for a better family life and a new set of operating principles to help the parent be more in command and control at work and at home.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This detailed and well-organized report is based on extensive interviews with children about how their parents navigate the responsibilities of home and work. Galinsky, the president and cofounder of Families and Work Institute and the author of The Six Stages of Parenthood, makes her rigorous scholarship accessible with succinct, vivid writing. The authors conclude that children are no less happy or healthy when both parents work but do suffer from stressful workplaces and unreliable shedules. One example of the original, compassionate, and realistic recommendations is to share with children what is enjoyable about work as much as its difficultis. The conclusions and recommendations are original, compassionate, and realistic. This is an important addition to the intense, ongoing cultural conversation, joining Arlie Hochschild's The Time Bind (LJ 5/1/97) and Toby L. Parcel and Elizabeth G. Menaghan's Parents' Jobs and Children's Lives (Aldine de Gruyter, 1994). Highly recommended for public and academic libraries.APaula Dempsey, DePaul Univ. Lib., Chicago
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Galinsky is president and cofounder of the Families and Work Institute, and her new sociological field study of work and family life, which takes society's burning work issues to the children, was embargoed due to a first serial agreement with Newsweek until the end of August. It may not be Kinsey, but people are still bound to talk. Bonnie Smothers

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow; First Edition edition (September 22, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688147526
• ISBN-13: 978-0688147525
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #416,797 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ellen Galinsky, president and cofounder of the Families and Work Institute, helped establish the field of work and family life at Bank Street College of Education, where she was on the faculty for twenty-five years. At the institute, she continues to conduct seminal research on the changing workforce and changing family. Her more than forty books and reports include Ask the Children: The Breakthrough Study That Reveals How to Succeed at Work and Parenting and the now-classic The Six Stages of Parenthood. She has received numerous honorary degrees and awards, including the 2004 Distinguished Achievement Award from Vassar College. She served as the elected president of the National Association for the Education of Young Children and was elected a fellow of the National Academy of Human Resources in 2005. She holds a Master of Science degree in child development and education from Bank Street College of Education and a Bachelor of Arts degree in child study from Vassar College. A popular keynote speaker, she was a presenter at the White House Conference on Child Care in 1997 and on Teenagers in 2000. She is featured regularly in the media, including appearances on Good Morning America, World News Tonight, and The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally, someone asks kids. Practical info, great advice., October 17, 1999

By 

Karen Diamond (Chattanooga, Tennessee) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ask the Children: What America's Children Really Think About Working Parents (Hardcover)

This book is a MUST for working parents. For young, working moms like my daughter and daughter-in-law, this book gives practical suggestions on how to manage their work and family life better. Best of all, the results of Galinsky's survey seem to tell working parents that they don't have to feel guilty about the time they're not with their kids, because the kids don't seem to mind. I like her terms for time with the family: "focus" time and "hang around" time. All parents - working and not - who feel stressed out about not giving enough time and efforts to their children need to read this book. I'm giving it to my married children and all the young parents on my holiday gift list. It's great!

15 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Galinsky is right on the mark -, October 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Ask the Children: What America's Children Really Think About Working Parents (Hardcover)

This is a terrific book! Finally, we have something that deals head-on with parent-child communication from BOTH sides. Galinsky's insight and tips are invaluable. I would recommend this book to anyone who balances going to work and raising children. It's already changed the dynamics between myself and my kids with regard to work.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kids Are Honest... Sometimes Blatantly Honest., September 19, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Ask the Children: What America's Children Really Think About Working Parents (Hardcover)

As an undergraduate, I majored in sociology and chose work and familly relations for my honor's capstone research. My major professor and I selected this book (along with some other standard and newer books relating to this subject). This book became my favorite - outshining some of my other favorites on this topic.

This book takes a practical approach to issues regarding parenting, work, and balancing life. Who would have ever thought to ask children what they felt about their parents working and their family lives? I highly recommend this to adults with children and even to those who are considering having children one day.