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Summary
Summary
Presents advice for worried parents coping with child rearing issues, including day care, drug use, and education, suggesting therapy methods through a behavioral approach.
Author Notes
David Anderegg, Ph.D., is a professor of psychology at Bennington College and has been treating children and families in psychotherapy for more than twenty years. Since 1994 he has also been the mental health consultant to Berkshire Country Day School. He received his Ph.D. from Clark University and trained as a therapist at the Child Psychiatry Unit at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston. Anderegg lives in West Stockbridge, Massachusetts, with his wife and two college-age children
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
According to Anderegg, a child therapist and professor of psychology at Bennington College, parents of today are excessively concerned about their children. A number of factors-including an increase in older parents, smaller families and media hype surrounding topics like school violence-have contributed to this rise in parental anxiety. Drawing on psychoanalytic theory, Anderegg posits that some worrying about children comes from unresolved issues in the parents' own lives. He uses the research of cognitive-behavior therapists to point out that parental vigilance, while appropriate for infants, is difficult to turn off as a child becomes more independent. Focusing on some of the hot topics of parenting, such as daycare, drug use and how to ensure that children attend the right schools, he argues that such worry is misplaced and counterproductive for both parent and child. Instead of obsessively overseeing their children's activities or worrying about their accomplishments, Anderegg recommends parenting children within an atmosphere of moderate firmness, empathy and an understanding of an individual child's temperament. Although the author's advice is sensible, it will be of the most use to parents who have some familiarity with educational and psychological terminology. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
Parents today worry more than parents in the past and worry more than is necessary, according to Anderegg, a psychology professor and therapist. In his practice, he has observed the phenomenon of overparenting, which he defines as parents obsessively overthinking, overworrying, and overacting, "trying to make perfect decisions every single time, in a world that is much more indeterminate and forgiving than most parents believe." Anderegg explores why, in a time of prosperity, so many parents are worried about their children. Though it is the nature of parents to worry, Anderegg maintains that parents have fallen victim to exaggerated reports in the media that constantly link the words children and crisis. He then focuses on parents' specific worries--overscheduling children, substitute care, overexposure to media culture, school violence--and lists some exercises parents can try to reduce their worrying. He concludes by exploring the effect of parental worry on the broader society. Parents will appreciate this accessible and helpful resource. --Vanessa Bush
Library Journal Review
In his research and practice, child therapist Anderegg has noted unusually high levels of parental anxiety, and here he aims to identify and ease main worries, which focus on day care, school violence, overexposure to media, and experimentation with drugs. He suggests both psychoanalytic and cognitive-behavioral therapy, first analyzing parents' arguments for worrying and then proposing interpretations for their displaced anxiety. According to Anderegg, parents are not worrying as much about their children as they are about themselves, and they project their fears onto their children. Using a behavioral approach, he presents facts showing that, in reality, each fear has little chance of being realized. School shootings, for instance, are highly publicized and seem to happen every month, when in fact "figures on adolescent death demonstrate that less than one percent of homicides and suicides among adolescents occur in or around school grounds." Throughout, Anderegg uses humor to lighten up distressing situations. Although the facts are less convincing than the author's interpretations (they were, admittedly, selectively chosen), the recipe works well regardless; parents will recognize themselves in the numerous examples and take heart. Ann Hulbert's recent Raising America: Experts, Parents, and a Century of Advice About Children and Peter Stearns's forthcoming Anxious Parents: A History of Modern Childrearing in America take a sociological approach to parental worrying. Recommended for all libraries.-Maryse Breton, Davis Branch Lib., CA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Table of Contents
| Introduction. Whose Zeitgeist Is It, Anyway? | p. 1 |
| 1. Nervous Wrecks: Scenes from the Front Lines | p. 17 |
| 2. Dr. Schreber and Mrs. Jellyby: The Myth of Scientific Parenting | p. 37 |
| 3. The Management of Worrying: Therapeutic Traditions | p. 63 |
| 4. Oh, Those Nasty Date Books | p. 81 |
| 5. Trouble in Au-Pairadise | p. 103 |
| 6. Do As I Say, Not As I Did | p. 127 |
| 7. Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Culture? | p. 151 |
| 8. When Columbine Was Only a Flower | p. 173 |
| 9. But What About Them? | p. 193 |
| Notes | p. 213 |
| Index | p. 222 |
