Hunt, Gather, Parent
Ratings23
Average rating4
An NPR Science Desk correspondent challenges the misleading child-rearing practices commonly recommended to parents, outlining alternatives grounded in international ancestral traditions that are being used effectively throughout the modern world. In Hunt, Gather, Parent, Doucleff sets out with her three-year-old daughter in tow to learn and practice parenting strategies from families in three of the world’s most venerable communities: Maya families in Mexico, Inuit families above the Arctic Circle, and Hadzabe families in Tanzania. She sees that these cultures don’t have the same problems with children that Western parents do. Most strikingly, parents build a relationship with young children that is vastly different from the one many Western parents develop—it’s built on cooperation instead of control, trust instead of fear, and personalized needs instead of standardized development milestones. --
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Interesting take on some stuff. A lot of other stuff felt disconnected.
Especially the part about the Hadzabe felt like it was very much removed from our world. Sure. We can learn from these societies. But the author is in a very different wealthy environment where she can fly in. Learn some stuff and go back.
Anyways. Interesting. But not a must read.
I liked the part about sharing responsibilities
Some good stuff, some very appropriative stuff. There are a few tactics in this book that I think I'll implement, but there were also several that I was somewhat side-eye-y about. Either way, though, it promoted thought about how I currently parent and why.
I have mixed feelings on this one. There are some good concepts in here, but I think there are other books that deliver more complete and thoughtful ideas. I struggled with this author's writing style - the pacing in particular was inconsistent, and I found myself often asking “so what?” after a long lead-up. The book also had a very strong emphasis on child cooperation as though it is the end-all be-all, rather than seeing the child as a whole person.
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