More Secrets of Happy Children

May 15, 2003
Australian psychologist Biddulph and his wife have written a sequel to their highly successful The Secret of Happy Children. While that book mainly dealt with how parents can interact well with children throughout their lives, this one focuses on the external factors that threaten that interaction. The Biddulphs spend a lot of time discussing the pressures of success-driven Western culture, arguing that children suffer when they spend too much time away from parents in child care and school. If parents make their career a priority, they hinder their children's development into secure and confident adults, which is detrimental to society as a whole. The authors have also expanded on the idea of "time outs" for misbehaving children by recommending that they "stand and think" about what they did and why it was wrong. This book has more teeth than its predecessor, but it makes a convincing case, with research statistics (mostly American) seamlessly blended into the text. Recommended for all libraries.-Alice Hershier, Reedville, VA

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