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

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

Review
"...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 )

"Honor 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 )

"...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 )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: HarperOne (April 22, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061128805
• ISBN-13: 978-0061128806
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 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: #449,251 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 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 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.

2 of 2 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

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 7 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)

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!