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Alex Chediak

Helping young adults thrive at college and beyond

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A Nation of Wimps – Reviewed by Tony Woodlief

May 31, 2008 by Alex Chediak

Awhile ago I spoke positively about an interesting new book by Hara Estroff Marano entitled A Nation of Wimps: The High Cost of Invasive Parenting. Marano is an award-winning writer and editor-at-large for Psychology Today, which published this lengthy review article of the book.
I have not read or seen Marano’s book yet, but I was happy to read what seems to be a balanced WSJ review by Tony Woodlief, himself a Christian blogger. Woodlief argues that Marano is on the mark in critiquing the invasiveness and over-protection tendencies of many parents today who guard their children from risks and consequences while pushing them in sports and other activities in the hope of getting them into elite colleges. However, she overreaches:

Unfortunately, it’s not just the parents aiming their elementary-school kids at Harvard and Stanford who draw Ms. Marano’s fire. It’s parents who don’t send their children off to sleepaway summer camps. It’s those nutty home-schoolers. It’s women professionals who choose to be stay-at-home moms while their children are young and parents who prefer not to hand their infants over to a daycare center. It’s cellphones, and globalization and American individualism.
Ms. Marano is fond of referring to “how things used to be,” but she seems to idealize a sliver of American parenting history, one that started shortly after Gloria Steinem declared stay-at-home mothers valueless and ended before millions of women decided that Ms. Steinem and her crowd were saps. In the how-things-used-to-be category, it is helpful for us to remember that Teddy Roosevelt, the quintessential American anti-wimp — he once killed a mountain lion with a knife — grew up enjoying a close relationship with his parents, including extended family vacations (no summer camp!), home schooling (call the teachers’ union!) and close contact even after he left for college (cut the cord, Mrs. Roosevelt!). TR’s own children suffered similar “overparenting,” yet they went on to be war heroes and successful citizens. American history teems with similar examples.

Seems like a helpful corrective from Woodlief. Read the whole thing.

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Filed Under: Culture, Practical Ministry

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With One Voice

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Praise for With One Voice

This relatively short book packs a powerful bang for the buck, providing much biblical and practical advice for young men and women seeking to glorify God in relationships.

Alex and Brett Harris
Best-selling authors of Do Hard Things

Alex and Marni Chediak offer sound biblical advice and a clear Christian framework for working through the maze of confusions surrounding modern marriage.

R. Albert Mohler, Jr., President
The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

Publishers have been cranking out books with all sorts of directions to help Christians navigate the treacherous waters between the buoys of singleness and marriage, and I know of none that is more clear, concise and helpful than With One Voice.

J. Ligon Duncan, III Ph.D.
Senior Minister, First Presbyterian Church

With One Voice is clearly written and God-centered. Our eighteen year-old daughter just read it and restrained herself from underlining nearly the whole thing!

Dr. Bruce A. Ware
Professor of Christian Theology
The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

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