Epidemic: The Rot of American Culture, Absentee and Permissive Parenting, and the Resultant Plague of Joyless, Selfish Children » (First Paperback Edition)

Robert Shaw, M.D., a child and family psychiatrist practicing in Berkeley, California, is the director of the Family Institute of Berkeley. He specialized in child psychiatry at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City and taught at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where he trained residents in community psychiatry as the chief of the Family and Children's Mental Health Services for the entire South Bronx. He then directed the Family and Children's Mental Health Services for the city of Berkeley. The father of four grown children, he lives with his wife, Judith, in the San Francisco Bay Area.

From an esteemed child psychiatrist: a bold, fresh, and controversial look at the faddish child-rearing practices that have created a nation of children who are depressed, alienated, often amoral, and all too often violent. The shock of the Columbine shootings and other school violence has generated a national debate, and there's a dawning realization that something incomprehensible is happening: our privileged, pampered children are turning into monsters at an alarming rate.

With years of study and first-hand experience, Dr. Robert Shaw exposes the roots of what he calls The Epidemic: the violence and the more subtle behaviour problems that are jeopardizing a generation. In this eye-opening book, Dr. Shaw explains that the "advanced" parenting methods experts have promoted for the last thirty years have helped to create a nation of children who are detached loners, unable to form meaningful relationships. From infancy through the teen years, Dr. Shaw provides a map back to sanity that tracks specific misguided parenting techniques and shows parents how to get and keep their children on track and create the environment necessary for a healthy psychological future.

Some of the important ground Dr. Shaw covers includes:

• The myths and realities of bonding and attachment
• How to recognize when day care is working - and when it isn't
• Landmarks to look for in your children's moral and ethical development
• Self-centeredness versus self-esteem
• Keeping the media from mugging your child
• What can be done with a child who is out of control

Dr. Shaw challenges us to confront a very real problem, then helps us take steps forward using common sense and humanity. The Epidemic calls us to become better parents—and feel better about the choices we make for our children.

USA Today

Reading his book is like having a bossy grandmother sit on your shoulder, doling out old-fashioned common sense. You're not supposed to be your child's pal, making him happy every second; you're supposed to be raising him to be a self-reliant, honest, helpful citizen who doesn't bully other children. And don't turn your house into a toy pit out of guilt for working. — Deirdre Donahue