EDUCATED PARENTS BEWARE....
345946
If your children love dolphins, seals, Orcas or any marine mammal, look to teach them what every marine scientist knows; circus shows exploiting these majestic animals are a travesty, and have NO educational value. Most of what your children "learn" at these sea circuses is misleading. Shame on you if you encourage this. To quote the late Jacques Cousteau: "There's about as much educational benefit studying dolphins in captivity as there would be studying mankind by only observing prisoners held in solitary."
3399654
I bought this book for a nutritional CEU coarse and was extremely disappointed.  Ms. Linn is barking up the wrong tree.  Why are kids fat?  There are not any moms who actually stay home and cook a decent meal any more! There is no one home anymore limiting television viewing.  Why are kids sexually active--I think that TV and the internet are worse than the commercials.  Parents don't parent anymore, but it is not the governments job to raise children.  If you think that you can "fight" marketing, think again--the marketing towards adults is what makes for crappy parents in the first place--it appeals to our selfish desires for food, being lazy, being lustful and greedy.
3006521
The author of this book has no medical or health professional background. She is giving her opinion as a mom on health issues that she is ignorant about, based on her 'mommy instincts' which ignores the actual scientific research. This book is a real danger to public health as it promotes anti-science missinformation against important health issues such as vaccinations and medical treatments.

Every parent with a brain will stay well clear.
3386194
This book is all about learning how NOT to listen to your children.  I had heard about the book and thought it sounded interesting so I decided to read through it.  Yuck!  It takes the approach that children are like rats  - don't find out what they're thinking but instead train them with the  equivelance of small electric shocks.  Yes, they will learn to avoid the  time-outs.  But, if there is a bigger problem will you ever find out what  it is?  Will you be there to help them solve it?  Not if you use Dr.  Phalen's method!  While I know it will work for some problems, it should  only be used in addition to listening, careful examination of the rules of  the house, and true caring.  Real listening is not 'giving in', as one  reviewer stated.  It is caring more about your child's wellbeing than about  anything else.
3845256
This book tries to connect dots that aren't there. They take a real problem, that parents aren't teaching their kids the Bible at home, and then say it's the churches fault for trying to make learning the Bible fun, and in age appropriate ways. They use inflammatory language like "age segregated" instead of "age appropriate" learning to remind people of racism. Poor taste! Yet the families I know personally who adhere to this montra, let their kids sit under the teaching of other parents at events outside the church all the time.

Dads and Moms should be responsible teachers of the Bible. The church should augment the parents responsibility. God gave pastors and teachers to equip the body (Eph 4). That means parents are under the leadership of the church. The church is a body of believers, not a family of families! Your family is most likely made up of young little reprobate sinners. We are in the new covenant and the unsaved are not part of the Church. This book confuses people with priesthood and covenant language that they get wrong in the OT and NT. I could go on and on about the wrong turns this book makes, but I think you get the point.

I'd encourage you to spend your time reading the word of God and engaging your family with the Word, rather than reading this inflammatory book.
3458357
As a special education teacher, I wish I could recommend this book to my parents, but I can't. It's not the religious viewpoint that I object to, it's the worldview.
I felt that this book was written by and targeted to a very narrow demographic: upper-middle-class happily-married Christian stay-home moms who have the privilege of choosing whether or not they will go back to work after they become parents, and who can afford four-year university educations for their children with average or above-average IQs.
  I was initially surprised by the subtle (and not-so-subtle) put-downs of "selfish" (p. 12) working mothers who consign their children to daycare, which the author equates with third-world orphanages, where she says children are subjected to sensory and cultural deprivation (pp. 30-31).
  Then, I was disappointed by the insensitivity to cognitively-impaired and developmentally delayed students. Dr. Angelotti takes pains to emphasize that the appropriate term for her own children is learning difference, not learning disability, but then she has no qualms about referring to developmentally delayed children as "mentally retarded" (pp. 33-34), which many special education professionals, parents, and students would find offensive.
  Early in the book, Dr. Angelotti also seems clearly biased against what she calls "learning a trade," and relegates this to "mentally retarded" students and students who are "bitter and angry" (pp. 16, 34, 60). Much later in the book, Chapter 5 to be exact, she comes around to discussing "trade school" as an option for some students,and she assures us that "others have chosen trade school and gone on to be very successful in their lives" (p. 121), but she has already made it clear that she feels college is the best and most desirable placement for all students, which in my professional experience simply isn't true.
  There is much useful information in this book, but it is significantly overshadowed by its shortcomings. If you are an upper-middle-class happily married Christian stay-home mom whose children are average to above-average intelligence and college-bound, this is the book for you. If not, I would recommend looking elsewhere.
1236466
This is the first book I've read using the free "app" for e-books available from  Amazon.com.  The cloud app works well but reading about the venomous murder was agogizing.  It was also an eye-opening experience of the most disturbing kind. It sounds trite, perhaps, but reading this book is troubling; I am sadder for having read it.

What caused three lovely bright teenager to develop into rule breaking potty-mouths?  How could they camouflage their behavior so successfully? Why would two of them  plan and carry out a barbaric murder of the third girl?

This book is a cautionary tale to parents and teachers, as well as to teens. It is more than just another book. If you care about kids, read this book.  If you are a parent, read this book. If you are a teacher or school board member, read this book.
1452892
I'm 33 live with my parents because I have Bipolar, a very hard to treat mentall illness. I have a business degree and held down several jobs before succumbing to this horrible disease. I did not ask to be born with Bipolar. It was genetically given to me. So for this author to say to hell with your adult children they are not your problem anymore they need to fend for themselves is complete bulls***. It took a lot of hard work but I made it through college with my business degree and held down a few jobs until the last 4 years. I can't find a combination of meds that work, I had 15 ECT treatments that left my once business savvy brain a vegetable and when I do enter back into the workforce it'll be impossible because I'll be up against all the new graduates whose minds are still sharp and fully intact. I had real jobs. I think if you have an adult kid that constantly doesn't take their meds or want to receive help that's one thing. But for the one that is taking their meds and trying to get better but just can't, I think it's awful for any author suggest you just wash your hands clean of them. Because like I said they didn't ask to be born with a mental illness. If mental illness runs in your family you have a 50/50 chance of giving it to your baby. That's why I don't intend to have children. I wouldn't risk passing this disease off even to my worst enemy. I just don't like how the author suggests parents have done their parenting and when their kid reaches a certain age they should be done. Would someone say the same thing about an adult kid with cancer? No! This is where the stigma of mental illness comes in to play yet again. In fact, (as morbid and disturbing as this may sound) I'd rather have cancer because that way I'd at least know what I was up against each day. But with a mental illness you never know how you'll wake up feeling and it's a horrible feeling. And to suggest a parent, even to their 30-something child just kick them out and throw away the key is repulsive to me. So they'll then get their meds how? Or where? Live where? Do what? That is a death sentence. Then they'll definitely never be able to successful because they won't be able to afford the treatment they need. They are more likely to (godforbid) go into prostitution to help pay for rent, and the extremely high cost of mental health meds, etc....and obviously that comes with its own risk and a whole new set of problems. They can't even help themselves with all the wonderful treatments and meds being provided to them so what does she think will happen if all that is suddenly cut off? My parents are tired yes. And they want to go on more vacations. And they want to have their alone time. And they do get very very frustrated at my situation. But so do I. If you think their frustrated and tired you can only imagine how they feel. But I do feel incredibly guilty all the time that I've been such a burden on them. My parents would never say "sorry we know you have this mental illness that makes you unable to function that we passed down to you but we don't care, out you go." Sorry didn't mean to write such a lengthy review but felt the need to be a voice for the adult children with mental illness (the ones who are actively trying to get better) she refers to in this book and who she so easily dismisses and instructs parents to feel ok with giving us the boot and moving on with their lives. If we are trying to get better and didn't ask for this devastating disease I think her suggestions are ridiculous. My two cents coming from someone on the receiving side of this. That's all.
3016657
While Deresiewicz makes a case that students at elite colleges today may be "excellent sheep," I guess I'm not the target audience because I don't feel as sympathetic as it seems he'd like me to be.  Yes, these students played the roles their parents wrote for them, parents who often "gamed the system" to get their children into elite colleges.  That they're unable to strike out for themselves once they get to college and that colleges fail to challenge them to do so is unfortunate, but my sympathy goes more towards students at schools which are not as selective.

Students at schools like Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Williams--schools which have taken a "Financial Aid Pledge"--are able to leave their undergraduate education without a significant debt burden.  Students at most private colleges and public colleges and universities will graduate with significant debt which cannot typically be discharged.  I find it ironic that students at elite schools who actually do not have to immediately be concerned with chasing a dollar are seeking degrees they imagine will make them wealthy.

I guess my sympathy goes more with the "lambs to the slaughter" who incur significant debt to earn/buy degrees from for profit "colleges" which offer marginal degrees.  These students often have few other options, don't have helicopter parents to "guide" and "direct" them, and essentially have to buy a degree which will be their albatross.  They will not even have the option to attend small seminars, to select from a array of extracurricular options, or to network with the "elite."  Many will work their way through college to shackle themselves for life.

Yes, I get it, the elite are miseducated, but the problem is not limited to the elite, and the elite have some opportunity to demand better.  Most American college students have less opportunity to demand better and are more apt to really have to consider their employment future.
2959518
This book is a must for Christian parents.  The tricks and schemes that the enemy uses are so sneaky, and will go unnoticed by those not looking to or obeying God.  Of course, a book like this will not make sense to many people of the world, who have not accepted Christ as their Lord, and Savior.  It's quite alarming to see so many adults ignorant of the devices the enemy will use against their children, to destroy them in any way that he can.  All's that can be said here is, if they can't see it so blatantly being portrayed in games, cartoons and other childrens items, they will miss it too when it comes in the forms of people, and other things quite unimaginable.  If we only knew how many witches and warlocks teach in the school system alone, we'd be running to get our children out of the schools or systems that their in.  Oh, I pray that we would wake up!!!!
4045614
The author's education is impressive - But the knowledge imparted in this book(let) did not come from education.

His recommendations are part critical thinking, part experience and part courage to step up.

This should not be read - It should be studied.

I give it my highest "EXCELLENT"

jdz
3570237
Why some parents become evil? and abuse their children in different ways !!!!Highly recommended for open minds readers and parents be alert and put attention to your children,listening and believe them
2626389
I have to add my thoughts to the reviews of this book. The jury has returned it's verdict on this book and has decided that it is one of the most dangerous childcare manuals ever to be produced. These opinions are not simply from parents but from trained, experienced paediatricians, doctors, nurses, midwives, researchers and even the world health authority. Quite heavy artillery you would think.

On the other hand, many parents have found that the book has contained information that has helped them achieve a healthy, sleeping baby. I don't think that many people dispute that,  HOWEVER, any book that can have a negative effect on ANY baby is not a worthwhile text to either use or promote. I find that many people think that any criticism of the book in wrong, but do not respond to any of the well documented evidence that many, many babies have suffered as a result of being exposed to this book and its information. Obviously many babies do fit the "Babywise" mould but more importantly, many do not and that is where the problem lies. All proponents of this book state that each parent should use the advice with common sense. Unfortunately, the book is written in such an authoritarian style and is aimed at such an inexperienced market that many parents are simply unable to sift through the book and figure out for themselves what is good and what is not. Please ask youself if you would buy and use any other book that asked you to use common sense in this way - or if you would use a book that so many people find damaging. Why is it so hard to believe that this book may be harmful? Do you think that all these people are wrong, or mad or somehow deluded? Of course not, they are simply giving you their negative experience with the book. The book should really have a "use with caution" sticker on it.

If the book was that good, it would open itself up to research and provide evidence of where it has got its information from. Instead, if you investigate the author of this book, you will find that there are many, many issues concerning the validity of the books evidence, its contradictory advice when compared to ALL medical advice and expert opinion. The author simply does not have the credentials to write the book. No book that has been written in this way, that does not cite it's evidence sources, is written by such an unqualified person or has not been researched in any way, would be used at ANY university, school or any training institute. It simply has no weight. Many highly qualified professionals have spoken out against this book and I think that any parent who wants to use this book should investigate the anti Babywise faction prior to implementing any of the book's advice.  Just so that you know, I am a nurse and a midwife and have worked with many doctors, etc who are appalled at the effect of this book on so many, many babies. We have seen an absolute epidemic of malnourished, dehdrated and depressed babies. Good on the babies that thrive, but please do not discount the other side of the argument.
4611790
In his book, dr bob goes so far as to say "I also warn (parents) not to share their fears with their neighbors, because if too many people avoid the MMR we'll likely see the diseases increase significantly"

I point this out because he is openly admitting that people changing and denying their child's vaccines will increase the risks of spreading disease.  Yet he is ok with telling you the reader it's ok to be part of the problem, just don't tell anyone or you risk losing "herd immunity".  Herd immunity is the idea that when a whole community is vaccinated the protective benefit is better.  When small pockets become unprotected, as in not vaccinating or changing the vaccine schedule, they risk creating an outbreak which can overcome this "herd immunity" putting everyone at risk.

Having seen several interviews with the author, you can tell he is the type that sees opportunity for profits, playing into the fears of the uneduatcated masses (medically speaking).  He is quoted as telling parents that "the hospital will try to give your baby a hep B vaccine as soon as it's born" and that " this isn't needed because hep B is a sexually transmitted disease so your child won't get it". He fails to point out the obvious point that the child, passing through the vagina, may come in contact with hep b.

He also likes to point out the nasty ingredients in vaccines, mercury, lead, aluminum etc.  here he is really playing to the jenny McCarthy's of the world.  He creates a zero tolerance mindset, educating his readers that vaccines contain these bad chemicals, yet failing to compare vaccines to normal everyday things like food, breast milk, etc etc, all of which contain low levels of these same nasty chemicals, and usually in higher concentrations then vaccines.

He falsely empowers parents to educate themselves on vaccines because doctors don't know much about them, but fails to mention the panels of experts in the CDC, American academy of pediatrics, and American academy of family physicians who do know a lot about these and who make the recommendations for vaccinations.

If you're considering reading this book, or considering/questioning altering your child's vaccinations, I suppose you have heard some things in the news or from a friend and are unsure yourself.  This is where it is up to you to take one of two roads.  One, follow the suggestions of a single man who stands to make millions off of your fears (buy this book) and people like Jenny McCarthy who has zero medical training, or talk to your doctor, read legit medical sources like the cdc or even webmd!  Educate YOURSELF, don't let one mans book be that education.  Take responsibility to read multiple sources, talk to multiple doctors, PA's or NP's.  Choosing not to vaccinate or alter vaccination scheduling isn't light, or safe decision.  Doing this could alter your life, your child's life, and the lives of those around you.  Google parents who didn't vaccinate regrets and you'll find plenty of real parent, real advocates who will tell you the guilt and grief of dealing with the death of their child due to a preventable disease.
888081
This book will probably reach only the Christian right, and that would be a shame, because there is a lot of good information in this book that applies to all parents who have children in public school.  It also affects all those who plan to live in the United States for the next 30 years.

For instance, the first chapter is on schools that not only indoctrinate young children in Islam, but require the children to actually practice Islam by memorizing a prayer in Arabic and actually praying that prayer, and by fasting at the right time, by taking a Muslim name for themselves, etc.

Other chapters deal with indoctrination of children against patriotism and against war.  The book quotes David Horowitz that, "There are more Marxists on the faculties of American colleges than in the entire former communist bloc." (p. 65).

The main problem with this book is not only its restriction to the Christian right, but the fact that the author does not understand the full extent of the threat we are up against.  When he is not reciting the usual epithets of "political correctness" or worse still "liberalism", he repeatedly calls it "secular humanism."  The New Ideology is not humanism.  It is not even liberalism.  Yes, it is NOT liberalism.  Liberals would allow you to have your say and not call you names for saying it.  And the threat of the New Ideology is not that it is secular.  If you want to know what the New Ideology is and learn more about how it has undermined education in this country, read&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/While-America-Sleeps-How-Islam-Immigration-and-Indoctrination-Are-Destroying-America-From-Within/dp/0595435246/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">While America Sleeps: How Islam, Immigration and Indoctrination Are Destroying America From Within</a>.  This New Ideology is formidable and its control of public education is a threat to the very existence of the United States as a democracy.
4861851
What?!!!  I didn't know that bananas needed sliced!!  I am 56 years old.  How did this happen?  How did I get to this age without such important knowledge?  What other essential bits of wisdom did my parents neglect to teach me?  I am completely humiliated.  My confidence in my own parenting skills is shaken to the core as well because I never taught my children about this all-important life-expectation.  Is there hope for one such as me?  Counsel anyone?
2057478
Make sure the kid your getting this for hasn't been corrupted by his/her secular progressive parents. They probably won't let him read it or the kid may be anti-Oreily already.(as was the case with my 15 year old nephew). Maybe Al Franken's book is a better idea for kids. UGH!