Under Pressure: Rescuing Our Children from the Culture of Hyper-Parenting (Paperback)

~ Carl Honore (Author)
Key Phrases: secret garden, pester power, backyard sports, United States, Testing Times, Hong Kong (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

“...a must-read book for parents, educators and all concerned with the health and well-being of America’s children.” (Madeline Levine, Ph.D., author of The Price of Privilege )

“...an important new look at the evolution of child rearing among the global middle class. Honore’s final words to parents are comforting: Trust your instincts and let your children be children. There’s time enough for all that achievement later.” (Oregonian )

“Honoré presents a list of ways in which parents all over the developed world have long been robbing their children of their childhoods by inserting themselves into every facet of their children’s lives. . . . Joining a crowded field of child-rearing books, this is an excellent choice.” (Library Journal )

“Under Pressure is a Godsend! Full of common sense advice...” (Christiane Northrup, M.D., author of The Wisdom of Menopause )

Product Description

"Why do grown-ups have to take over everything?" This innocent question from acclaimed journalist and international bestselling author Carl Honoré’s son sparked a two-year investigation into how our culture of speed, efficiency, and success at all costs is damaging both parents and children. When the impulse to give children the best of everything runs rampant, parents, schools, communities, and corporations unwittingly combine forces to create over-scheduled, over-stimulated, and overindulged kids. The mere mention of potty-training, ballet classes, preschool, ADD, or overeating is enough to spark a heated debate about the right way to raise our children. The problem is that despite the best intentions of all involved, the pressure to manage every detail of our children’s lives from in utero through college is overwhelming.

Delivering much more than a wake-up call, international bestselling author Carl Honoré interviews experts in Europe, North America, and the Far East, talks to families around the world and sifts through the latest scientific research. Not only do we see the real dangers of micromanaging children, but Honoré also shows us an emerging new movement inspiring many to slow down and find the natural balance between too little and too much. Blending the finest reportage, intellectual inquiry, and extraordinary true stories, Under Pressure is the first book to challenge the status quo by mapping out an alternative to the culture of hyperparenting that is presently pushing children and their parents to the brink.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: HarperOne; Reprint edition (April 7, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061128813
• ISBN-13: 978-0061128813
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #229,478 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Reminder of Educational Alternatives, December 13, 2008

By	E. M. Anderson - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Under Pressure (Kindle Edition)

This book is, primarily, a world tour of different viewpoints and options for education, particularly of young children. Honoré is a parent himself and the book seems to have been born from an almost obsessive search for the most unconventional schooling options for children. While I found many of the options he explored both interesting and compelling (the schools where preschool aged children spend a full day exploring nature together with their adult guides, for example), Honoré seemed incapable finding any fault with the non-traditional options he explored, while having nothing but loathing for conventional methods. An interesting read, but the author is too blinded by novelty to make any real focused recommendations for new directions.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential read for all parents!, December 26, 2008

By	Kidz Phyz (Vancouver, BC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Under Pressure: Rescuing Our Children from the Culture of Hyper-Parenting (Hardcover)

As a mother of 4, grandmother of 6, and pediatric physical therapist, I found this book an invaluable tool for re-evaluating how our child-rearing has become so tightly wound, for both the children and the parents who so desperately want their children to succeed. It is a close look at many patterns of parenting that we all have, at one time or another, slipped into. It raises huge questions about the value of pushing ourselves and our children in order to achieve outcomes that are often, at best, misguided, and at worst, leave us with adolescents that feel that the bar has been raised so high they are left with a sense of hopelessness. Honere has done a good job of bringing these important concerns forward, and I think this book will be a catalyst for many important conversations about the directions our child rearing practices are taking. Looking backward I can see the deep caverns that well meaning parents, and educators have slipped into, and looking forward, I fear that we are pushing our children too hard and too fast. This is such an important topic. We are consistently bombarded with media blitzes about the destruction of our physical resources, what what about our human resources, there is little dialogue about the precious commodity called childhood, and it is eroding rapidly into a rush-rush day-timer full of activities, with little time left to daly into the dreamlike state of childhood. Thank you Carl Honare for writing this important book!

4 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars What are we doing to our children?>, May 27, 2008

By	Kay Bawden "food wine user" (Hollywood, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Under Pressure: Rescuing Our Children from the Culture of Hyper-Parenting (Hardcover)

From the very first page, information galore. Makes you sit back and think about how to pull back a little and let our children make some mistakes -- at least let them have something of their own!