|
|
Executive Times |
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
2008 Book Reviews |
|||
|
|
Parenting,
Inc. by Pamela Paul |
|||
|
Rating: |
*** |
|||
|
|
(Recommended) |
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Click
on title or picture to buy from amazon.com |
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Anxiety Pamela
Paul’s new book, Parenting,
Inc.: How We Are Sold on $800 Strollers, Fetal Education, Baby Sign Language,
Sleeping Coaches, Toddler Couture, and Diaper Warmers-and What It Means for Our
Children, will go a long way to ease the anxiety of those parents who
have concern that they don’t measure up to what other parents are doing for
their kids. After a comprehensive examination of all the ways in which
parents are inundated by consumer choices for their children, Paul concludes
that what children need most is the time and attention of loving parents.
Here’s an excerpt, from the beginning of Chapter 3, “Trouble in Toyland,” pp.
89-90: Every parent can tell at least
one Bad Toy Story. Here is one of mine: When my daughter Beatrice was eight
months old, she went bonkers for a battery-powered puppet, one of the many
samples that had been sent to me for review. The puppet (a monkey? a bear? a
dog?) would sing "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" when one foot
was pressed. The other foot, when squeezed, would intone, "Find your
head. Touch your shoulders. Find your knees ..." Though Beatrice fell
within the professed target age range for the toy, she was absolutely content
to repeatedly press the latter button so as to hear a continual loop of
"Find your head.. . Find your he. . . Find your ... Find your ... Find
your ...." without making a single corresponding gesture. It didn't surprise me that
Beatrice was unable to master the sucker. After all, it demanded
understanding a fairly complex concept for a baby: that an object should
talk, always saying the same thing, without eye contact or gestures or
intonation, and expect that its listener should obey its
"commands." As far as I was concerned, the thing didn't even
resemble a puppet, that is, a toy that a parent or child could manipulate to
say whatever he wants, in whatever voice he wants, to reflect any idea or
emotion of the moment. Be that as it may, Beatrice seemed to adore it. Then one day, amid the chaos of
an afternoon playdate, the toy broke. Whether someone stomped on it, threw it
in frustration, or twisted it the wrong way was unclear, but the result was
unambiguous. Beatrice would press the feet expectantly, then stare,
dumbfounded, when the puppet failed to reply. She looked at me, perplexed and
disappointed. That night, I asked my husband
if he could break open the puppet and rewire its insides so it would once
again sing on demand. "Are you kidding?"
he replied.
"Let's leave it. We hate this stupid toy anyway, and it will be much
better if it doesn't bleat that song over and over." He had already
insisted on hiding a singing, jabbering Learn n' Play Puppy in the closet
because it wouldn't shut up. "I
know," I conceded, somewhat abashed. "But Beatrice expects the
toy to sing and talk. When it doesn't, she finds it disturbing. Something
that was once predictable no longer is. How should she interpret that?"
I was aware of how ridiculous I sounded, but felt trapped. I had come to
believe that we had to fix the toy or throw it away entirely, so my husband
agreed to fix it, soldering the wires back together. Of course, Beatrice soon
lost all interest in the puppet. I didn't blame her. It was nearly impossible
to manipulate without setting off the blasted music, and the puppet never
said anything other than its programmed chant, making it very much a one-note
wonder. Like so many other toys on the market today, it didn't last long. Paul’s
Parenting,
Inc. is a useful and practical book, especially for new or worried
parents. Parents who read it will skip a trip to the mall, and hold, play,
sing, read or do something fun with their kids instead. Steve
Hopkins, August 15, 2008 |
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
Go to Executive Times Archives |
||||
|
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The recommendation rating for
this book appeared in the Seeptember 2008 issue of Executive Times URL for this review: http://www.hopkinsandcompany.com/Books/Parenting Inc.htm For Reprint Permission,
Contact: Hopkins & Company, LLC • E-mail: books@hopkinsandcompany.com |
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
