The Shelter of Each Other

I picked up this book after reading the equally important "Reviving Ophelia." "The Shelter of Each Other" is an important guidebook on how to get your family back from the clutches of American junk media, job stress and day care. This book is ungently needed by any parent with factory farmed kids who spend their days with nannies, in day care, and in front of the tube watching garbage videos. But it is equally useful to involved parents who want to be one step ahead of the corrupting and damaging influences of life in America today. Read it and heal.

An honest appraisal of the pressures on families, including the ways in which Pipher's own profession has contributed to the devaluation of family ties. Pipher is not strident, but she is very clear on the flaws of our culture as well as the consequences of choices we make in what we value and how we spend our time . She doesn't blame parents for everything. She gives many examples of the way in which outside pressures and the lack of a supporting culture can tear families apart. She offers principles and practical guidelines to help families bond and shelter each other while still giving each other room to grow. A far more hopeful book than "Reviving Ophelia".

I heard Mary speak in Calgary last year. The thousands of us who were there were riveted. As a high school teacher who is on the "front lines" witnessing the disenfranchisement of our youth, her book holds hope for everyone--if only everyone could read it. I recommend all her books--but this is less clinical than Reviving Ophelia. After hearing her speak, and reading the book, I have continued to make positive changes in my home. I am a single parent, but we have numerous traditions that I know my kids will cherish when they are older! This should be another one of those books we send home with the baby from the hospital!

Dr Pipher focuses on families' strengths and resources, and refuses to label them "dysfunctional." Often, we simply need to rethink our use of time and technology. For me, reading this book was like taking a deep, calming breath and seeing my precious family in a new light.