Joe Stopulos welcomes back author, journalist, and father of six Tim Carney for a two-part conversation on his latest book, Family Unfriendly: How Our Culture Made Raising Kids Much Harder Than It Needs to Be. Tim is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he researches civil society, family, localism, and religion in America, and a senior columnist at the Washington Examiner. He previously joined Joe to discuss his earlier book, Alienated America, and returns after a well-received talk at this year's Forge Conference.
In Part 1, Joe and Tim cover:
- Why Tim wrote Family Unfriendly after realizing the biggest consequence of America's "loneliness crisis" is the decline in marriage and family formation
- The two biggest cultural forces working against families: an intensive, all-consuming parenting culture and an over-emphasis on individual autonomy
- Chapter One, "Have Lower Ambitions for Your Kids," and the "travel team trap" — why over-investing in one child's athletic future can fracture the whole family and warp a kid's sense of identity
- Research showing mothers of four or more children report lower stress than mothers of one to three, and why "lowering the bar" actually makes for better, more present parenting
- Chapter Two, "Leave Your Kids Alone," and the case for free-range parenting, including Tim's own stories of (temporarily) losing his kids in public
- The "criminalization of parenthood" — how fear and social media shaming have made ordinary, low-risk parenting decisions feel dangerous
- Why building stronger, more connected neighborhoods makes it easier and safer to give kids independence
- Parenting as a "cheat code to sanctity" and how raising children re-centers a family's life on others rather than self
Tim Carney's book, Family Unfriendly, is available wherever books are sold. Learn more about Tim's work at the American Enterprise Institute: https://www.aei.org/research-products/book/family-unfriendly/
Don't miss Part 2 of this conversation, coming soon, as Joe and Tim work through the rest of the book's chapters.
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