The genesis for this book was a growing acknowledgement that the experience of childhood in modern, upper-echelon society looks drastically different from both historical and cross-cultural antecedents. Anthropologists studying childhood find a great range of “normal” childhood experiences that, nevertheless, might be considered highly unorthodox—even harmful—by current “informed” parents and professionals. Raising Children uses insights drawn from the anthropology of childhood to serve as a lens to critically examine contemporary childhood.
