I'm not saying this was a bad book, or I book I wouldn't recommend, it just was not my personal favorite. The framework was good - there were a few good nuggets, but it lacked actual data that supported her ideas. Most of her "evidence" to back a claim started with, "You know what I did as a kid..." There were several parts that sounded more judgemental than actual helpful advice - teens not talking to each other at the bus stop at 7 am or a child watching videos on a phone during their siblings' basketball practice (because she had dance parties on the sidelines with her friends as child) and her only advice was to put away the phone. I get it. I support no phones for specific ages, but I do not see a problem with teens not chatting and playing at a bus stop at 7 am.
One last criticism - this book is written in a very upper middle class, two parent, white, Christian household mindset. While I would consider myself to someone fit that niche (besides the fact I have a Korean husband), I would have appreciated a bit of a larger world view.
I will say her voice as a writer is wonderful! You're really sucked into her story telling and enjoying hearing about her childhood, even if that's not every one's childhood experience.
The biggest nugget that I liked was the gift of being uncool and protecting them from the opinions of the 'big kids'. While working in youth development, I saw the younger kids were always getting made fun of for the things they were doing that was developmentally appropriate. This so so heartbreaking and I appreciated her thoughts on sheltering their innocence a little bit longer.
Would I recommend this book? Probably not. Did I feel like there were a few good thoughts in here? Absolutely!