Julie Lythcott-Haims

How to Raise an Adult

1. IDEA 1

   Overprotection holds children back

   Lythcott-Haims, a former dean at Stanford, argues that many parents do too much for their children. This overparenting, she says, leaves young adults less able to cope on their own.

2. IDEA 2

   Helicopter parents hover

   The author describes helicopter parents who constantly monitor and manage their children's lives. She saw many students who struggled without parental direction. In her account, such students often had trouble making basic choices without help.

3. IDEA 3

   Childhood became a checklist

   The author argues that children's lives became filled with activities chosen to build impressive applications. Free time disappeared. In her account, the push to look impressive left little room for rest, play and finding what children truly enjoy.

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