Wow! Super interesting insights on how other cultures parent. It wasn't something I thought I would really like but it was so fascinating!

*3.0 stars*
First and foremost, this is not a parenting book. Raising Children takes an anthropological approach to the customs of various child rearing practices in different parts of the world. Within each chapter, David F Lancy has compiled a series of essays that takes us from the newborn to the adolescent. The writing flows smoothly and the vocabulary is very easy to manage.

I didn't find any startling revelations within these pages on children and adult relationships. I guess it's a hazard of my profession, but I read many articles targeting "cotton wool parenting " and "helicopter parents" or how the lack of chore division is causing a society of unmotivated citizens. On the other hand, when the focus was strictly highlighting the customs of various types values around the world, I was highly engaged.

Where the book falters with me is that the conclusion summary doesn't jive with what I perceived Lancy was selling. Throughout my reading, I sensed that he was frowning on the lack of traditional rules in our society. When he slides in the example of Sarah Palin 's daughter, Bristol and her "bastard "(his words) children, I really felt he was promoting his point of view on the traditional family. What threw me for a loop was that after all that build-up, on which I felt he was extremely critical, Lancy states that the U.S will definitely serve as the model for other nations. But he glosses over a lot of the issues that are debated in that nation(such as education). Personally, it created a lack of authentic feeling in his arguments. All in all, a lot of what we already know from the web, Raising Children becomes an introductory guide to what I had hoped was going to be a more meaningful discussion.