The Gift of Failure

Teacher and writer Jessica Lahey argues that overprotective parenting, from delivering forgotten assignments to challenging report cards and managing friendships, denies children the chance to fail and learn to solve their own problems. Focusing on the school years, she shows how overparenting can damage a child's confidence and undermine their education, and notes that teachers pass on responsibility, organization, manners and foresight as well as academic skills. She gives targeted advice on homework, report cards, social dynamics and sports, along with a plan for parents to step back and accept their children's failures as part of raising resilient, self-reliant adults. The book speaks to parents, educators and psychologists, and it became a New York Times best seller.

Ryan Holiday, who read it because he has a son, said it is worth reading for anyone, parent or not, and described it as a middle school teacher's exploration of how to raise self-sufficient children who take responsibility for themselves.