Growing Up Free: Raising Your Child in the 80s

by Letty Cottin Pogrebin

While it might be tempting to dismiss a book on child-raising written in the 1980s as irrelevant today, this is a large compendium of both common sense and persistent truths that few parents would consider "dated". Communication skills, social relations, the child's psychological development, the impact of the child on the parents' relationship, etc. -- these are all germane topics today and subjects which are handled expertly here.

Genres: Parenting, Feminism, Psychology, Nonfiction

641 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

LETTY COTTIN POGREBIN, a founding editor of Ms. magazine, is a writer, lecturer, social justice activist, and the author of 10 non-fiction works and two novels, most recently, SINGLE JEWISH MALE SEEKING SOUL MATE, Here you can find her biography, a list of her published works, lecture topics, and a schedule of her public events. www.LettyCottinPogrebin.com She's currently at work on SHANDA: A Memoir of Shame and Secrecy.

Reviews

[Anne White]

Read for a university class.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the parenting book that my mother read, and she gave it to me, almost threw it at me, saying she didn't need it anymore, but I might find it useful. This book has redoubled my resolve to be more conscious and proactive about non-sexist parenting, especially since I am currently staying home with my children.

[Priscilla Bourgoine · Rating 5 out of 5]

My childrearing bible, decades ago! I've been a big fan of Pogrebin's since Ms. magazine.

[Ms. Yingling · Rating 3 out of 5]

Personal copy

Used this as the basis for raising my own children in the 1990s and 2000s. Doesn't hold up terribly well today, which is too bad. It's really very sound. Both of my daughters majored in accounting in college, so I feel like the advice in the books helped them be the people they wanted to be without too many twentieth century gender expectations. The biggest practical takeaway from this was having gender neutral clothes, which drove my mother up a tree!

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently had a fantastic laugh at myself thumbing through my ancient copy of this book.

[Laura Cobrinik]

I read this back in the 1980's for a college course on women. I read it again, and WOW! Times have certainly changed.

Laura Cobrinik
Boonton Township