Simplicity Parenting

This book is frustrating. The author has a solid point, but he goes way too hard on it and ends up missing the mark.

The first few chapters, especially, were tough to get through. He's basically telling parents to throw out all their kids' toys and only keep the “right” kind: nothing from movies, nothing branded, just simple, open-ended toys. It's a full chapter of just how to throw out toys.

I think the problem isn't the type of toy; it's the sheer amount of them. Less is better, sure, but there's no need to overcomplicate it with all these rules.

That said, once you get past the toy purge obsession, there are actually some great points in here about giving kids more time to play, slowing down, and just being with them. At the end of the day, the entire book boils down to one really simple message: Spend quality time with your kids. Give them space to play and create. That's it. Instead of just saying that, he takes the long way around with a ton of unnecessary rules that make everything feel way more rigid than it needs to be.

There are some good takeaways here, but you've got to wade through a lot to get to them.