Hold on to Your Kids

The peer-orientation concept is one of the genuinely illuminating ideas in modern parenting literature — Neufeld and Maté name something parents sense but haven't had language for, and the thirty years of developmental research behind it gives the argument real weight. The diagnostic sections are longer and more developed than the practical guidance, which is a real imbalance, and the cultural critique turns repetitive. But as a framework for understanding what's happening to contemporary children, this is well worth the read.