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zeljana's review against another edition
2.0
This is not actually what the cover and the blurb would make you guess. It is a great source for anthropologists or anyone interested in how different cultures parent, but it is not a parenting book, and can't understand why Amazon lists it as such. I personally found it a little bit dry, and the choice of cultures represented was rather limited. I understand that the anthropological work takes really long periods of time and it is not possible to write a book that covers it all. But, my general feeling was that there is a lot of misogyny in traditions related to childbirth and pregnancy in most cultures represented here and it sort of tainted the book for me. As an expectant mother, it made me feel really depressed.
buffalokid's review against another edition
informative
lighthearted
slow-paced
2.75
Tough. Tough. Read.
I dont know how many anthropology-based parents there are, but this book is made for you! For everyone else, the book has an amazing idea but written with such an academic slant it's hard to access. My favorite parts were the intro and the conclusions, where stories and ideas were captured briefly enough for a working parent to gather them up. I also wish there were more stories/research on modern, city dwelling families across the world instead of African agrarian tribes.
Again, interesting idea but how the book was written and where they did their studies was not on mark for me.
I dont know how many anthropology-based parents there are, but this book is made for you! For everyone else, the book has an amazing idea but written with such an academic slant it's hard to access. My favorite parts were the intro and the conclusions, where stories and ideas were captured briefly enough for a working parent to gather them up. I also wish there were more stories/research on modern, city dwelling families across the world instead of African agrarian tribes.
Again, interesting idea but how the book was written and where they did their studies was not on mark for me.
sarahelizabethii's review against another edition
A lot more academic than I expected. Which isn't a bad thing objectively, but if you're wondering how to get these results in your own family, this book doesn't exactly offer answers.
bartendm's review against another edition
3.0
The book was interesting in places, but it tended to be repetitive at times and the authors spent a lot of time describing a relatively small number of societies that they had personally studied and less time on others, so it didn't feel comprehensive. They suggest that American parents are overly concerned with the details of child rearing, but they never really pulled together an argument that this was a bad thing, just that all societies do it differently.
lirael's review against another edition
4.0
Wasn't quite as comprehensive as I'd hoped in describing parenting practices around the world and throughout recent history, but invaluable for freeing me from the norms I'd accepted as gospel when they may be uniquely "American."
veewren's review against another edition
3.0
Really interesting topic, but the authors don’t really come to any useful conclusion. As others have said, it is more like a comparative ethnography. It will make you feel better if you don’t parent the typical American way though, which is nice.
ginkgotree's review
This book was not what I expected. I thought it would be more of a parenting manual based on other cultural practices, along the lines of [b:Bringing Up Bébé: One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting|13152287|Bringing Up Bébé One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting|Pamela Druckerman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327009243l/13152287._SY75_.jpg|17885255] (which Ali Wong refers to in her book [b:Dear Girls: Intimate Tales, Untold Secrets, & Advice for Living Your Best Life|44600621|Dear Girls Intimate Tales, Untold Secrets, & Advice for Living Your Best Life|Ali Wong|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1553635552l/44600621._SY75_.jpg|69234815]) as "that book of LIES") or [b:Achtung Baby: An American Mom on the German Art of Raising Self-Reliant Children|34930861|Achtung Baby An American Mom on the German Art of Raising Self-Reliant Children|Sara Zaske|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1499703101l/34930861._SY75_.jpg|51606679].
It's not that at all. The LeVines are anthropologists, and this book describes some of the parenting practices they observed during their field work in Africa and Mexico (some of it fifty years ago, for what that's worth) and other anthropologists' work in Asia and Oceania. They describe some of the differences between parenting in wealthy industrialized cultures versus hunter-gatherer or agrarian communities. This is interesting, but, as someone with no background in anthropology, I also found it a little weird - there is something uncomfortable, almost colonialist, about white people observing the practices of people of color and presuming to draw conclusions about them from an outside perspective.
The final chapter concludes that contemporary American parents put too much pressure on themselves to optimize their child-rearing in order to give their children the best start in life, and suggests that the diversity of parenting practices across cultures indicate that children will turn out basically okay regardless. They also suggest that American parents can take what is best from other cultures, but the only concrete example of this they give is co-sleeping. I don't think the rest of the book supports this conclusion (reasonable though it may be) because it ignores the fact that these practices take place *within* a particular cultural context; if you borrow Xhosa parenting techniques, you might prepare a child to live in Xhosa society, but that is not necessarily what children need to thrive in American society.
More importantly, you can't meaningfully adopt another culture's parenting practices, because American society is set up with nuclear families. No family is an island. As Ali Wong says in her complaint about [b:Bringing Up Bébé: One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting|13152287|Bringing Up Bébé One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting|Pamela Druckerman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327009243l/13152287._SY75_.jpg|17885255], it's all very well to say you won't give your child snacks, but if every other kid on the playground is eating goldfish crackers, you'll probably end up letting your child eat goldfish crackers, too.
Still, the overall point - American parents can chill out a little, because children are pretty resilient - is reasonable enough. I just didn't find this book, interesting though it was, ultimately convincing in the way it arrives at this conclusion.
It's not that at all. The LeVines are anthropologists, and this book describes some of the parenting practices they observed during their field work in Africa and Mexico (some of it fifty years ago, for what that's worth) and other anthropologists' work in Asia and Oceania. They describe some of the differences between parenting in wealthy industrialized cultures versus hunter-gatherer or agrarian communities. This is interesting, but, as someone with no background in anthropology, I also found it a little weird - there is something uncomfortable, almost colonialist, about white people observing the practices of people of color and presuming to draw conclusions about them from an outside perspective.
The final chapter concludes that contemporary American parents put too much pressure on themselves to optimize their child-rearing in order to give their children the best start in life, and suggests that the diversity of parenting practices across cultures indicate that children will turn out basically okay regardless. They also suggest that American parents can take what is best from other cultures, but the only concrete example of this they give is co-sleeping. I don't think the rest of the book supports this conclusion (reasonable though it may be) because it ignores the fact that these practices take place *within* a particular cultural context; if you borrow Xhosa parenting techniques, you might prepare a child to live in Xhosa society, but that is not necessarily what children need to thrive in American society.
More importantly, you can't meaningfully adopt another culture's parenting practices, because American society is set up with nuclear families. No family is an island. As Ali Wong says in her complaint about [b:Bringing Up Bébé: One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting|13152287|Bringing Up Bébé One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting|Pamela Druckerman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327009243l/13152287._SY75_.jpg|17885255], it's all very well to say you won't give your child snacks, but if every other kid on the playground is eating goldfish crackers, you'll probably end up letting your child eat goldfish crackers, too.
Still, the overall point - American parents can chill out a little, because children are pretty resilient - is reasonable enough. I just didn't find this book, interesting though it was, ultimately convincing in the way it arrives at this conclusion.
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