How to Raise an Adult: Break Free of the Overparenting Trap and Prepare Your Kid for Success

Product Description

New York Times Bestseller
“Julie Lythcott-Haims is a national treasure. . . . A must-read for every parent who senses that there is a healthier and saner way to raise our children.” -Madeline Levine, author of the New York Times bestsellers The Price of Privilege and Teach Your Children Well
“For parents who want to foster hearty self-reliance instead of hollow self-esteem, How to Raise an Adult is the right book at the right time.” -Daniel H. Pink, author of the New York Times bestsellers Drive and A Whole New MindA provocative manifesto that exposes the harms of helicopter parenting and sets forth an alternate philosophy for raising preteens and teens to self-sufficient young adulthood
In How to Raise an Adult, Julie Lythcott-Haims draws on research, on conversations with admissions officers, educators, and employers, and on her own insights as a mother and as a student dean to highlight the ways in which overparenting harms children, their stressed-out parents, and society at large. While empathizing with the parental hopes and, especially, fears that lead to overhelping, Lythcott-Haims offers practical alternative strategies that underline the importance of allowing children to make their own mistakes and develop the resilience, resourcefulness, and inner determination necessary for success.
Relevant to parents of toddlers as well as of twentysomethings-and of special value to parents of teens-this book is a rallying cry for those who wish to ensure that the next generation can take charge of their own lives with competence and confidence.

Review

“This is the stuff of the best parenting advice . . . . A worthwhile read for every parent . . . . Our children are engaged in the serious work of becoming an adult. With this book, Lythcott-Haims provides the missing user manual.” ―The Chicago Tribune
“This book is the antidote to helicopter parenting. Lythcott-Haims’ research, combined with a decade of experience as a Stanford dean, makes for some important insights into the state of parenting in America today.”―San Francisco Chronicle
“[How to Raise an Adult] may just be the Black Hawk Down of helicopter parenting. Lythcott-Haims, who brings some authority to the subject as Stanford’s former dean of freshmen and undergraduate advising, has seen varieties of extreme parental interference suggesting not just a lack of common sense, but a lack of wisdom and healthy boundaries . . . .When parents laugh and enjoy the moment but also teach the satisfaction of hard work, when they listen closely but also give their children space to become who they are, they wind up with kids who know how to work hard, solve problems and savor the moment, too. In other words, get a life, and your child just might do the same someday.”―The New York Times Book Review
“[How to Raise an Adult] is refreshing in many ways, and as parents ourselves, we highly recommend it.”―The News & Observer
“This is such a terrific book. So incredibly timely. Parents will love it and devour it because it’s such a concern . . . instead of thinking about raising children, we need to be thinking about raising adults.”―CBS “This Morning”
“Lythcott-Haims breaks down the source of helicopter parenting habits, and uses studies and stories to illustrate the developmental, emotional, and psychological toll that overparenting can take on children. She also gives parents some constructive tips for stepping back and allowing the next generation of leaders to become fully formed adults.”―MSNBC “Melissa Harris-Perry”
“Julie Lythcott-Haims, I hope my child has a dean, teacher, others like you out there . . . Thank you for spreading this really important and powerful message.”―FOX “Fox & Friends”
“Reveals some terrifying truths.”―Telegraph (UK)
“At last, a parenting book I can get behind.”―The Independent (UK)
“Run, don’t walk to your nearest bookstore and get this book! It’s Malcolm Gladwell meets Paul Tough meets Madeline Levine in a fresh, timely take on rais