Leonard SaxRezensionen

UMD book club choice March 2020

The book is excellent. Should be read by all parents, especially so in today’s gender-fluid culture. I read the first edition from a library. Would be interesting to know if the studies cited in this book hold up in the second edition.

An excellent book that must be read by everyone that is planning to have children or already have young children under the age of 4-5. I suggest the latter age of 4-5 as it is important that you understand Dr. Sax’s experience and what he has learned about different parenting styles from his pediatric experience and begin following them at those ages or earlier. That is not to say that those with older children would not benefit, however, as your child gets older, if you have not followed Dr. Sax’s advice, it gets tougher and tougher to change your child’s behavior. This book is VERY counter cultural to today’s methods of child raising practiced by so many parents – i.e., “I Have to be my child’s friend”, “I have to allow him/her to experience things their friends are doing before they go off to college or else they will immediately do things I prohibited”, etc.) He has many citations to support his commentary. I believe the reason we have so many so-called “snowflakes” in our college students and recent graduates is precisely because parents did not follow his suggested methods.

Eye-opening book on sex differences in childhood. I was always taught gender was a social construction, never knowing so much research finds innate, statistically-significant differences between the sexes. (I never knew there was so much research that supports innate differences between the sexes in primates either.) I find the book very helpful since I have one of each! Here are things I learned: Boys need to hear things at a louder volume than girls; they see motion better than they see colors. Boys are girls bully for different reasons and act out the bullying in different manners.; they have different expectations about sex; they use drugs for different reasons.....There's also interesting information on gender atypical children and LGBT children that, again, did not quite fit with what I was taught. Fun book!

Sax seems to present this in an even, non-extremist way. Thus, it is far easier to respect his ideas and consider them credible. However, to avoid being called sexist, one must also apply this to girls of today. Our problem might not be video games, but I'm pretty sure that we do have one.

Adult nonfiction; education/parenting. I haven't finished it yet, but this has a lot to do with parenting (effective methods for teaching/rearing girls vs. boys) and since I'm not crazy about this month's "mothers" theme, and because the other choices I tried to read didn't pan out, it will have to do. So far it's been v. interesting--the biological differences between the brain functions of boys and girls, as well as in men and women. I would recommend it for all parents/teachers.

Adult Nonfiction. A thought-provoking book for parents and educators (and anyone else who knows an unmotivated male--and most likely you do); talks about the problem of unmotivated boys/men and explores possible causes/solutions, including the results of dozens of scientific studies that suggest the negative impact of these causes. Summary: ( 1.) we should reconsider the accelerated format of kindergarten--push that reading and writing stuff back into first grade; reconsider different learning environments: more hands-on learning, healthy in-class academic competition (as a motivational tool), and even, in some cases, segregating the boys in their own classrooms. ( 2.) Limit the use of video games (esp. games that reward immoral behavior) to an hour or less a day, and make sure kids understand that family, school, and friends come first. ( 3.) Think twice before prescribing ADHD medication (duh). ( 4.) Try to limit use of PET plastic bottles (the ones we use for bottled water, soda, and baby bottles), esp. when such a bottle has been heated (extra leaching), but in any case when a young child or infant is concerned (male or female, but especially if male). Use glass containers instead. (5.) More responsible male role models.

Even if you don't fully believe all the reasons (though many of the arguments are too strong to really ignore), it's still worth reading all the things that people have written in response to the author's work.

If you have been paying attention to life there is not much in this book that will be news to you. Despite all our best effort it still seems girls are still forced into societal roles, they are just different now. It seems that for every step forward women make, society finds a way to take it and somehow objectify girls more. I think it is a good resource to help parents remember and promote ways to encourage girls to believe in themselves...

First...I am not sure you would call me an objective reviewer. I found that many of my views and practices already aligned with Dr. Sax. I have 5 boys. I am still more worried for my girl growing up in this world but through my experience I have noticed many of the things that Dr. Sax talks about that affect boys today. I feel like everything was well cited and the research was well documented. It offers good perspective for parents of boys...and Joshua Chamberlain is one of my heroes :)

Interesting although I think I found his separate books on boys and girls a little better...

Since reading “Queen Bees and Wannabes,” which eventually inspired the movie “Mean Girls,” I have been particularly fascinated with the culture of teen girls, and how it doesn’t really end once the high schoolers go off to college. In this particular book, physician and psychologist Leonard Sax, who previously penned a similar book about boys, examines what he believes are four factors impacting the current society in which girls are growing up. These are sexual identity, the cyberbubble, obsessions, and environmental toxins. He dedicates a chapter to each, as well as drawing connections between the various factors. One issue addressed in the sexuality chapter which I have not seen mentioned often in other texts is the increasing “cool” factor of bisexuality and lesbianism. In his chapter on technology, Sax points to sleep deprivation as a factor in the overdiagnosis and medicating of ADHD. In the final chapters, Sax also addresses the importance of feeding the mind, body, and soul of young women, making some interesting points about the differences in physical education, academic education, and religious education for boys and girls.

Though this book does not present a particularly comprehensive look at the adolescence of girls (as evidenced by the title itself), it does make good points about the four titular issues, some of which have yet to be addressed in depth in other materials. An excellent addition to popular literature regarding psychology and development in young women.

why girls are growing up too fast, problems with society and girls, sexism

excellent book, how society is failing boys, how boys are failing

Factors driving the epidemic of unmotivated boys and underachieving young men

The Collapse of Parenting is spot-on with the descriptions and theories as to why children today tend to be disrespectful. The attitude towards parents is "ingratitude seasoned with contempt". We live in a culture where disrespect is the norm and attitude is "Live For Now". Why? The author, Leonard Sax, states that parents have "role confusion" and kids now value peers' opinions more than their parents. Another reason is sleep deprivation and fragility. Parents need to teach Fulghum's Rules, along with self-control, skill of disagreeing respectfully, and willingness to fail. Learn from failure then get up and move on. Parental authority is not discipline. It is teaching the child how to behave both in and outside the family unit...teaching right & wrong. "Just Right" parenting style communicates live but also enforces rules fairly and consistently. Suggestions in first half of book include limiting social media and always eat dinner together (and turn off all devices during dinner).

The last part of the book discusses 3 things to do help our kids:
1. Teach Humility. Be as interested in others as you are in yourself. Leads to gratitude, appreciation, and contentment. Kids need to do CHORES and understand the value of labor. The opposite of humility is inflated self-esteem which leads to resentment.
2. ENJOY your time with your child. Do fun things together and don't multitask.
3. Help child figure out the Meaning Of Life. Who am I? What do I really want? What would make me happy? Empower child to take risks, try new things, and then congratulate them for both successes and failures.
The Purpose of Life:
-Meaningful Work
-A Person to Love
-A Cause to Embrace

My job as a parent is to help my child find his potential. "Happiness comes from fulfillment, from living up to your potential..." This book is written in an easy to read style with lots of real life experiences that make the concepts relatable.

This is a helpful, not-preachy book about how to navigate the world today with a daughter in tow. This book is quite readable and I found myself enjoying the stories of the girls he featured in the book. I even found myself in the book, which was a surprise. This book helped us (my husband and me) to create reasonable guidelines for our daughter concerning all of the technology at her fingertips, as well as nurturing her soul and keeping her healthy. I highly recommend this book to anyone with a daughter.

This author is a M.D. and has a Ph.D, his research has compelling evidence towards same-sex education. Society is certainly more lax in their attitudes and motivation but in the end it is the parents hard job of raising healthy,holy,positive,productive children. There are some good suggestions to aid us in the end.

I was struck by how accurately a few of the problems cited lined up with experiences in my own life. Along the same lines, I was intrigued by the similarities between the solutions he suggested for those issues, and how I had resolved the problems I was experiencing.

If you have sons, be sure and read this book. You may not agree with all the details, but use it as an inventory of all the wrong things in our culture and environment.

Very interesting read about the challenges faced by boys in American society. There are a number of suggestions that parents can use now to positively affect their sons' lives.

Everyone should read this book! There are biological differences between how boys and girls learn, behave, think, feel, etc. Teachers, as well as parents, need to know these things so they can use more gender-appropriate strategies. Don't worry - this book is not about reinforcing gender roles, and there is a section about masculine girls, and feminine boys. Sax realizes that these ideas are not absolute, but they will definately help the majority of our students. I urge you to read this! You will learn a lot of new, surprising things (for example, did you know that boys and girls hear and see differently?).

Though the read is not the best, the ideas presented are ones I personally feel every parent should be exposed to for consideration for the safety of their children, especially sons.

Every parent should read this book. It is based less on conjecture than scientific studies. Not one study, but several. Studies that look at differences between the genders on hearing, eyesight, brain function, risk-taking, etc. It broadens your understanding of why your child sees the world as he does and why he reacts the way he does. These are important facts to know when shaping an educational plan that will work best for your child. An absolutely fascinating read.