This recommendation comes with some huge caveats, which is why I’m listing this in the “Advanced” category. First, the author is not a Christian, and so there are times when she gives admonitions that I would not give as a pastor. Second, this book is polemical in nature; she is not so much presenting a positive vision of parenting, but is taking on modern parenting trends such as “gentle parenting,” “helicopter parenting,” and the highly therapeutic trauma-turn that has happened in recent years. With those warnings, I would say that many parents need to hear much of the pushback that Shrier dishes out in this book. In particular, I think parents do need to be encouraged to give their children appropriate room to fail. Many of us believe that good parenting means protecting our kids from pain, from failure, and from loss. In reality, those things build resilience – something that cannot be merely acknowledged, but that must be developed through negative experiences. If we try to protect our children from negative experiences, they will learn the wrong lesson: namely that they aren’t resilient. Shrier also includes a helpful critique of the modern trauma-obsession. There is a trend of parents sending their children to therapy when, in fact, such therapy often creates a self-perpetuating dependency; rather than helping the child, such therapy often causes them to ruminate on pain and keeps them from becoming resilient. For the discerning reader, I think Shrier’s book is a needed corrective, though it is bound to offend and rub some the wrong way, as well.