Summary

This work considers parenthood to be a lifelong process in which parents and children grow together. It calls for families, employers, communities, government and society to give parents real help with their day-to-day concerns and challenges.

Author Notes

Jack C. Westman, M.D., is professor emeritus of psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin Medical School in Madison. His many books include Born to Belong: Becoming Who I Am ; Licensing Parents: Can We Prevent Child Abuse and Neglect? ; and Who Speaks for Children? Individual and Class Child Advocacy.

Library Journal Review

Editor Westman (psychiatry, Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison; Licensing Parents) encourages America "to identify the parent-child relationship parenthood as the fundamental institution in our society [and to] use quality of life, rather than material achievement, as the central measure of success in life." Twenty-three academic essays compartmentalize and dissect parenthood in three broad areas: the home, the local community, and society at large. Readers truly interested in brief, ten-page surveys of topics such as "Combining Love and Limits in Authoritative Parenting" or "Developmental Contextual Perspective" will be rewarded with concise, erudite, and well-intentioned essays. Professionals in the family therapy/helping professions will find useful summaries of parenting topics, and researchers will find coverage of prior work in this rather dramatically titled book. T. Berry Brazelton and Stanley I. Greenspan cover similar ground in The Irreducible Needs of Children (LJ 11/1/00). For academic libraries as needed. Douglas C. Lord, Hartford P.L., CT (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.