Parenting Isn't for Cowards : The 'You Can Do It' Guide for Hassled Parents from America's Best-Loved Family Advocate

Rating:
Summary: Title is true, but much of the content isn't!
Review: While it's true that parenting isn't for cowards, much of the advice in the book is advice that might have been doled out about fifty years ago. Also the book is rather sexist. In one section, when James is talking about the "strong-willed" vs the "compliant," he mentions this business partner he knows. This business partner sounds incredibly sexist in his hiring practices & should be sued for discrimination for ranking men according to how close they are with their dads, then says that females are oh-so-hard to figure out, perpetuating the myth of the "complex, hard-to-understand" woman. He also makes a shocking statement that "women can be meaner than men." It's appalling that James even prints that blatantly sexist comment in his book! Also another really sexist chapter about parent-child relations portrays an outdated fatherhood model. The chapter paints a rosy picture of fathers & sons hunting & fishing together in total harmony (apparently the father is supposed to be teaching the son "masculinity" in killing animals for sport; a sensitive, gentle son like Steve Perry would have been out of luck here)while depicting a "typical" mother-daughter relationship as being full of conflict & says that moms "need dads to step in & settle their conflicts for them. How unbelievably sexist! James doesn't seem to realize that there are plenty of competative, conflict-ridden father-son relationship & plenty of close, tranquil mother-daughter relationship. In cases where a mom & daughter do have trouble relating, I would hardly think that having dad step in is the solution. Also perpetuated is the myth that only dads can show daughters "proper femininity," but never once is mentioned how a mom can influence her son positively. It's the mom that influences a daughter's womanhood more than the dad. Today's moms won't find much support or identification in this book; the book assumes that all business owners, doctors, lawyers, & anyone in the workforce is male, & tends to treat all women as homemakers