Raising Children: Surprising Insights from Other Cultures

Why in some parts of the world do parents rarely play with their babies and never with toddlers? Why in some cultures are children not fully recognized as individuals until they’re older? How are routine habits of etiquette and hygiene taught – or not – to children in other societies? Drawing on an entire life’s experience as an anthropologist, David F. Lancy takes us on a journey around the globe to turn how children are raised in a different way in different cultures. Intriguing, and once in a while shocking, his discoveries demonstrate that our ideas about children are up to date, untested, and steadily contrast starkly with those in other parts of the world. Lancy argues that we are, by historical standards, guilty of over-parenting, of micro-managing our children’s lives. Challenging many of our accepted truths, his book will encourage parents to think in a different way about children, and by doing so that you can feel more relaxed about their very own parenting skills.