I recently had the opportunity to review an awesome book by Julie Lythcott-Haims, How to Raise an Adult. I knew by reading the title it was something I needed to read because I am all ears when it comes to anything that can help me become a better parent and raise my children to be better adults.
About Julie Lythcott-Haims
Julie Lythcott-Haims attended Stanford University in 1989 where she majored in American Studies and Harvard in 1994 where she studied law. In the 1990s she worked in law in the Bay Area before she decided to return to Stanford where she would serve various roles such as Dean of Freshmen, which she held for a decade, and she served her final three years as Associate Vice Provost at Stanford for the Undergraduate Education as well as Dean of Freshmen and Undergraduate Advising. In 2010, she received the Lloyd W. Dinkelspiel Award which was for creating the atmosphere that defines the undergraduate experience. In 2012, Julie Lythcott-Haims left Stanford for California College of the Arts in San Francisco where she would pursue her MFA.
Julie Lythcott-Haims currently lives in the Bay Area and has written poetry, plays, short stories, and other creative non-fiction books.
How to Raise an Adult
Julie talks about something my husband and I spend a lot of time talking about – why children have a harder time preparing for the adult life. She also provides some great information for parents to better prepare their children for adulthood and avoid what she refers to as over parenting.
It wasn’t long ago I was able to leave my full-time job to work from home. Which is nice, but I’m still working and at times it’s harder for the kids because they don’t fully understand work. In How to Raise an Adult Julie speaks some parents doing too much for their children to see they get into the right school. Seriously, going as far as writing essays. I’m involved with my children and want to see them get into good schools, but I don’t plan on doing anything for them. I’m there to support and guide them as much as they will allow me, but that’s all we can do as parents. We can only do our best to teach them the needed skills to become successful and support them along the way. They have to be willing to put themselves out there and write an over the top essay if they want to get into the right school.
It’s important for our children to learn to be independent, regardless of how much we want to see them in the “right” school, we have to allow them to take control of their life a little.
I enjoyed reading and learned a lot from How to Raise an Adult, which is available in both e-book and book form. To learn more you can visit HowToRaiseAnAdult.com.
I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.
