As a former dean of freshmen and undergraduate advising at Stanford, author Julie Lythcott-Haims learned a good deal about what she calls “overhelped” students, who were so used to their parents’ telling them what to do that they couldn’t make decisions on their own. In this book, she outlines different strategies to help guardians avoid the “overparenting trap” and empower their children to succeed on their own. Among them: making kids clean up after themselves, refusing to bring forgotten items to school and asking kids how they plan to fix their problems instead of offering a solution. Lythcott-Haims, a mother of two, knows ceding control can be nerve-racking. But “for our kids’ sakes, and also for our own,” she writes, “we need to stop parenting from fear.”
–OLIVIA B. WAXMAN
More Must-Reads From TIME
- The 100 Most Influential People of 2024
- The Revolution of Yulia Navalnaya
- 6 Compliments That Land Every Time
- Stop Looking for Your Forever Home
- If You're Dating Right Now , You're Brave: Column
- The AI That Could Heal a Divided Internet
- Fallout Is a Brilliant Model for the Future of Video Game Adaptations
- Want Weekly Recs on What to Watch, Read, and More? Sign Up for Worth Your Time
Write to Olivia B. Waxman at olivia.waxman@time.com