Bringing Up Geeks (Book Review)

Bringing Up Geeks: How to Protect Your Kid's Childhood in a Grow-Up-Too-Fast World by Marybeth Hicks

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
The subtitle of this book is "How to Protect Your Kid's Childhood in a Grow-Up-Too-Fast World," and defines geeks as Genuine, Enthusiastic, Empowered Kids.

This book made me feel validated as a parent. As if we are actually doing not too badly as we decide how to raise our children.

The author, a parenting columnist and mom of 4, has 10 rules for raising "geeks":

Rule 1: Raise a brainiac

Rule 2: Raise a sheltered kid

Rule 3: Raise an uncommon kid

Rule 4: Raise a kid adults like

Rule 5: Raise a late bloomer

Rule 6: Raise a team player

Rule 7: Raise a true friend

Rule 8: Raise a homebody

Rule 9: Raise a principled kid

Rule 10: Raise a faithful kid

She tackles a variety of issues, such as cell phone and internet use, materialism, bullying, manners, friendships, family bonding, and ethics.

Nonreligious readers should probably avoid Rule 10, because it talks about the importance of spirituality in a child's life...and how that helps them cope with some of the stresses of being a "geek."

While I was reading this book, we were dealing with an issue my middle schooler told me about (regarding some inappropriate behavior going on at school), and we made the decision to talk to the teacher about it. My middle schooler was not happy about this, but I explained to him that sometimes doing the right thing is not the popular thing.

I highly recommend this book for parents who want to raise children who are individuals and do not just go along with the hip and cool kid culture. Geeks rule!

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