Have You Heard About "The Idle Parent"?

A book from UK author Tom Hodgkinson entitled, "The Idle Parent" is making a lot of waves and receiving a lot of attention both home and abroad. Hodgkinson says that parents spend too much time coming up with things to do and complain about. They should just relax, and life will get better.



The premise of the book is this: "Kids and adults alike need to play more and work less. We put far too much effort into parenting. If we leave our kids alone, they will become more self-reliant and we’ll be able to lie in bed for longer."

Some parents are saying hallelujah to this new, unique parenting style and feel it is refreshing. Other parents feel like this book if off-base and lazy and not at all the way you should raise children. It is certain to garner even more attention once the book is released in the U.S. What do you think about “The Idle Parent”? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below. Do you plan to read it?


Check out this Wall Street Journal blog entry here for more information on "The Idle Parent."

TV for Babies: Harmful or Helpful?

A new study suggests that watching television, including educational videos for children, won’t improve language development or cognitive skills for infants and toddlers, even if they watch several hours of television a day. Results of the study were published in the March issue of the journal Pediatrics.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no television time for toddlers younger than 2, in large part because no studies have yet established that TV exposure improves babies' learning. Now the new study published in Pediatrics confirms that position.

Read more about the new study at TIME magazine here. What do you think? Post in the comments section below.