Customer Reviews

Stupid Things Parents Do To Mess Up Their Kids

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

This book is very well writen with no psychobable. It brings a very interesting reflexion on what parents should and should'nt do to do their job as parents.

If you are a mom that works outside the home, you probably won't like this book. Dr. Laura just tells it like it is and I'm sure alot of people find it offensive. I think it is refreshing to hear someone who sticks up for our children (it should be us-their parents.) As a physician, I see too many people who put there own selfish needs ahead of their kids. If you don't want to raise them, don't have them. Good advice.

Ok. Let's really get a few things straight for those of you who have read some of the 1-2 star rating reviews and feel discouraged about redaing this book. For one thing, yes Dr. Laura does use the straight-in-your face, to the point kind of language in this book. But, I would never go as far to say that she is "insulting" because I accept that there are different types of personalities in this world and she has made it quite clear, if you have ever listened to her radio program, that that is just her personality and the way she is. Secondly, she has stated time and time again that she is not AGAINST the female race and working parents, she is simply SO passionate about the raising of children and making sure that parents place their children as a priority ABOVE their careers, that she comes off sounding as though she's insulting people when she really is not. Also, I have heard so many callers that FINALLY "get it" and change their lives for the better after Dr laura's to the point, in your face advice is given. For so many it is like cold water being splashed in their face, to wake them up and make them realize the mistakes they are making that are hurting their children. Thanks to her, so many families have changed around their whole life styles in order to allow the mother to stay home with their children. And there are actually people that believe that daycare is BETTER than having a real parent around? Are you kidding yourselves? Would that be the choice YOU would have made as a child? "Day care, nanny, or your mommy--what's it gonna be kid?"
"Oh Day care please!!! I get so much socialization!" Give me a break! Tell the kids that are exhausted and worn out from 9-10 hour days in day care, that it's actually better for them than their own parents. Just look at the Research---"Day Care Deception" is an excellent book which sites TONS of research on the matter and see for yourselves. In my opinion this book is great because some parents, not all, really do need a wake up call. And, by the way, with the computer boom, yes there are LOTS of at-home type of work that you CAN do to be home with your child. This is what I did and--where there's a will, MOST OF THE TIME, There IS a way. Those of you who honestly can't put food on the table or a roof over your heads without two incomes--I am not refering to you. But, I do wish you all the best. Lastly, I find it so sad that so many people judge DR Laura by rummers that they have heard about her past. Even if these rummers were true--SO WHAT? Is she leading the same life NOW? No. And yet so many people dig up her past. Haven't you EVER done anything you regreted and later learned from? She has openly stated in her radio program that she has had different beliefs many years ago and how she changed and became the person she is today. I can understand feeling uncertainty towards her if she is doing things NOW contrary to what she states, but her past is her past (even though I don't know or bother to listen to a whole heck of a lot of the gossip around). Anyways, I've said my peace. And I DO recommend this book. Toss any harsh tones in this book aside and instead really ABSORB the POINT of this book--to better the lives of our children. TAKE WHAT YOU CAN LEARN. Good luck, and ALL THE BEST!

Sorry, Laura, I refuse to call a pop shrink a doctor, but this book along the rest your "cataloge" is worse than useless; it is harmful. Her set of morals are crafted from a hodgepodge of flimsy pop attitudes that ultimately serve only to glorify Larua's ever increasing ego. I find it humorous that people will look everywhere but their own soul for advice on life. People will look to almost any one else. Namely, a woman who professses moral accountability but when life throws her curveball she hides and denies (i.e. her false denial that a set of nude photographs depicted her in very imtimate detail.) Sorry but Laura's monotone harping (on husbands, children et, al,) is neither emotionally helpful nor intellectually beneficial. DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY.

Dr Laura I'm afraid is hopelessly out of touch. Oprah I can understand but you listen to Ms Schlesinger and realize that she really has no idea what life is like without a few tens of millions in the bank. Life is complicated and messy. Religion plays an important role in a world of increasing insecurity. God bless those who can stand on the montaintop and tell people how to live their lives and how they're not measuring up. If you're that type of masochist, Ms. S is the woman for you, to all others I suggest you follow the golden rule, treat yourself right, do good and live the most spiritually rewarding life possible for yourself and your family. Above all, follow the bible and leave jugement to God. It's not your business to caste judgement on others or for that matter allow others to do that to you.

I'm not sure Schlessinger and I could ever be best buddies, but I do appreciate her in that she sticks up for kids. Too many parents use their children as accessories, pawns or surrogate best friends these days. Children are a huge responsibility, and many parents would probably be doing society a favor by getting a pet instead. Society gets to deal with the results of inept, me-first parenting. And the children just get left to deal as best they can.

Needless to say before you rush out and buy this book, please listen to Dr. Laura on the radio for at least 30 minutes. If you like what you hear, then buy the book. Otherwise the purchase will not be an investment that will bring you happiness or be a gift to a friend or relative that will bring that person happiness.

Otherwise like her other bestsellers it is well written with a flowing style and contains some original thinking. But Dr. Laura has definite ideas so know your subject well before you send this as a gift.

Jack in Toronto

Because of finances, I had been second guessing my choice to stay at home with my two children since the beginning of the year. After reading this book it made me feel like my job as a mother is the most important job there is and will ever be! It has boosted my confidence and self esteem and made me a better mother to my children. Thank you Dr. Laura! I wish there were more people like you out there - supporting the significance of motherhood in a society concerned with material things. No, we don't have cable, and none of us can buy new clothes (we shop consignment or clearance racks), but it doesn't bother me anymore. For right now, while they are small, I feel like this is the best decision I could have made.

I was disappointed in this book. Dr. Laura goes on for the intire first half of the book putting everyone who uses daycare down. Not just put downs, a total belittlement. She was able to work two or three hours a day and made enough money over time that her husband was able to quit work. Then she says "If she can do it anyone can".
I have worked with the public for 33 years and can count on one hand the number of children with stay at home Moms that I could stand to be around long enough to give them a haircut. I know day care situations can be obsurd but there are just as many stay at home Moms who are not doing their jobs. I have personally known more than a few teachers who say the kids with daycare experience are much better all around students than kids with stay at home Moms.
Yes I take in that info because I have four children who have no trouble figuring out who loves them the most. Two of them are grown with kids of their own. I used daycare for all four because I had no choice. Their Dad walked out after 20 years with someone half his age. Most of the single Moms I know wish it was different but it isn't that kind of world. I teach my girls that they need a sound carreer as much as any Man because it makes no difference what your intentions are, Life can throw a variety of curves. Put downs don't make people change.
I gave the book a star because I agree with the discipline approaches she suggests. I never want my kids to use a divorce as an excuse for anything.

When I picked up this book, I was surprised to find that Dr. Laura holds back, trying to balance her tough love advice with an odd compromising prose that I haven't seen in her before.

Perhaps I was expecting too much. Having converted to the Prota-Subterfuge branch of Judao-Christianity, I find Dr. Laura a refreshing force in a clustered mess of celebrity healers.

While some of her theories on parenting are key in today's unstructured society, she lacks the spark that Dr. Laura is well known for. My therapist -a firm believer in the ten commandments-recommended this book to me because he supports the misunderstood harsh stance she takes, and felt that this particular publication could help me deal with my parent/ child issues.

While the initial pages deliver a disciplinary aura that a hesitant man like myself desires, she tones down her stiff rhetoric by the second chapter. Now....I am not a parent, but my counselor said that my desire to be parented is a cry to be emotionally bullroped by a mother figure. Admittedly, I searched for secular forms of sensual abuse before I converted; I realize that is wrong. My counselor suggested that since I share similar views with Dr. Laura Schlessinger, that her writings on parenting would give me the ecstatic thrill of being shamed and abused by a shark of a media evangelist. By reading her scalding works, I could enjoy the luxurious thrill of her telling me what a horrible parent I will be one fine day. Her harsh delivery would nail my soul with passionate degradation, which in turn would free me from the "genuine guilt" of embracing secular masochistic excitement.

Unfortunately, Dr. Laura drops her mean tone by the seventh page, and my longing to be emotionally abused flies out the window. Perhaps her art does not properly transfer to the written word. Perhaps if she restricted the messages of firm parenting to the "spoken word" form via audio cassette or video, good religious folks like us could drink in the undiluted punishment that we all know and love Dr. Laura for. Personally, I don't want her to give me a bland list of "things to do" to be a good parent; I want to feel the verbal lashing of the woman that many of us progressive Christian men see as the only true audio dominatrix.