The Secret of Half-Arsed Parenting: Raising kids with half the guilt and twice the joy

Searching for permission to drop your standards, ditch the guilt and relax?

The Secret of Half-arsed Parenting is a practical and entertaining antidote to the extreme stress of modern parenting. It pokes fun at the unrealistic goals and expectations thrust on parents today, and offers a way to raise kids with less pressure, less guilt, less stress and fewer cupcakes baked at midnight.

It’s not about doing a bad job. It’s about recognising that parents don’t have to be perfect. What’s wrong with toasted sandwiches for dinner? Kids sharing bedrooms and bathrooms? The fact your child’s first word was ‘Bluey’ rather than ‘Mama’? Half-arsed parents let their kids succeed - and fail - on their own merits. They will protect them from bullies, head lice and mullet hairstyles, but not from every knock and bump of life that will make them better adults.

Drawing on worrying research into anxiety in children and parents in this era of helicopter parenting, journalist and doctor of education Susie O'Brien lays out the case for embracing a bit of half-arsed parenting in your house. By doing half as much, you might just make everyone twice as happy. Here’s how.