Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Mothers Raising Sons


By Nigel Latta.

Nigel Latta talks a lot of common sense, he also talks a lot of rubbish, which is definitely one of his charms, but he talks a lot of rubbish with plenty of common sense.

This is a parenting book written by someone who is funny, irreverent, non-politically correct, hugely well qualified and who happens, in my mind, to be right.

This book is an antidote to the slew of contradictory information that parents are barraged with everyday by well meaning experts and sensationalist media which reports our boys are in crisis, and it cuts through to the chase of the matter which is parenting seems to have become too hard, too complicated and too guilt and fear inducing and we need to step back and simplify it.

I found this to be a reassuring and entertaining read, although dear Nigel can waffle on a bit. But I was pleased to see that according to Nigel, Hubby and I are doing pretty OK in the way we're bringing up our little folk, and we haven't fallen for all the hype, well, not most of it anyway.

We're pretty chuffed with the results.

5 comments:

Rachael King said...

You should be! Your boys are lovely.

Dave B said...

My boss went and heard him talk last night a Plunket sponsored event in ChCh. He said he hasn't laughed as hard as he did in a longtime. He said he got a lot out of it.

I think he's on TV 1 tonight at 8pm. But his live 'standup' shows are brilliant.

I have daughters, I thought they were supposed to be easier than boys.

Vanda Symon said...

Thank you Rachael (-:

Dave, Nigel swears like a trooper when he's not being censored for telly, and I can imagine his live show would be hilarious! From everything I've heard from my friends, boys are definitely easier. My two entertained themselves all afternoon with a box of ping pong balls, cardboard tube and a cardboard box. Boys are straight forward and easy to please.

Diane Brown said...

I am the mother of two boys who despite being of the same parentage could come from different planets in different galaxies. They are now 26 and 24 and thus we have 11 months to go before we can say we have achieved one definition of successful parenting, 'alive at 25.' That definition was chilling when I first heard it and remains chilling because so much can happen to any child or young adult, which is beyond the power of any parent. To say that girls are easier than boys or vice versa is an extreme generalisation. Every child is different and demands a different approach.

Vanda Symon said...

Bear in mind, Diane, in my circle of folk our kids are aged up to nine, and life is still straightforward. I'm sure that will all change dramatically in a few years when they are older, have a lot more testosterone in their systems, no longer believe everything Mummy and Daddy tell them, and have a lot more external influences that we have no control over. For now, I'm enjoying what is a delicious age.

It amazes me too how two kids with the same parentage can be so very different. I have Mr Serious-strong-and-silent-type and Mr Rip-shit-and-bust!