Ask the Children: What America's Children Really Think about Working Parents

by Ellen Galinsky and Judy David

Book Overview

The first comprehensive study asking children and their mothers and fathers for their family views on work and family life offers dozens of proven strategies busy families can use to feel more... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0688147526
• ISBN13: 9780688147525
• Release Date: September 1999
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.5" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Do you return to work...or not?

You've probably heard all sides of the debate and most likely everyone from friend to family has weighed in on the issue: As a parent, do you return to work or not? Ellen Galinsky took the question straight to the children to find out their perspective. While parents may fear what the children will say, they will be enlightened by the results of this study. This book is a valuable resource for working parents looking to find a sense of balance between work and family challenges. The type of time parents spend with their children turns out to be more important to the children than the amount of time. Ellen provides parents with ways to strengthen their children's perceptions of what they do at work and why parents work. This book, while it can be time consuming to read all of the statistics, is a must read for all parents.

Kids Are Honest... Sometimes Blatantly Honest.

As an undergraduate, I majored in sociology and chose work and familly relations for my honor's capstone research. My major professor and I selected this book (along with some other standard and newer books relating to this subject). This book became my favorite - outshining some of my other favorites on this topic.This book takes a practical approach to issues regarding parenting, work, and balancing life. Who would have ever thought to ask children what they felt about their parents working and their family lives? I highly recommend this to adults with children and even to those who are considering having children one day.

Great reference on how to raise teenagers

This book is very well-written and well-structured. It assisted me a great deal to write a graduate paper on how teenagers are affected when parents do not play an active role in their child's life. The learnings from the study are very interesting and I highly recommend it to anyone who is a parent.Enjoy!

Galinsky is right on the mark -

This is a terrific book! Finally, we have something that deals head-on with parent-child communication from BOTH sides. Galinsky's insight and tips are invaluable. I would recommend this book to anyone who balances going to work and raising children. It's already changed the dynamics between myself and my kids with regard to work.

Finally, someone asks kids. Practical info, great advice.

This book is a MUST for working parents. For young, working moms like my daughter and daughter-in-law, this book gives practical suggestions on how to manage their work and family life better. Best of all, the results of Galinsky's survey seem to tell working parents that they don't have to feel guilty about the time they're not with their kids, because the kids don't seem to mind. I like her terms for time with the family: "focus" time and "hang around" time. All parents - working and not - who feel stressed out about not giving enough time and efforts to their children need to read this book. I'm giving it to my married children and all the young parents on my holiday gift list. It's great!