Achtung Baby: The German Art of Raising Self-Reliant Children - Softcover

Part memoir, part an essay on parenting, Zaske's book is furnished with ample statistics and research . . . Zaske is equally perceptive when probing delicate and complicated topics (Fani Papageorgiou Times Literary Supplement)

Zaske details her experience mothering in Germany to present a portrait of German-style parenting that is at once entertaining, surprising, and instructive. With curiosity and insight, she reveals how many of our parenting assumptions stem not from evidence but from insecurity and fear (Kim Brooks, author of The Houseguest and Small Animals, and editor of Salon.com)

I was completely drawn into this marvelous account of how Zaske learned to trust her children and allow them the freedoms they craved. It is the story of one family and, at the same time, of childrens' and parents' lives in two huge modern nations. I recommend it to all American parents, educators, policy makers, and others concerned with children's lives and the future of our society (Peter Gray, author of Free to Learn)

This is a beautiful book. Zaske uses her personal experience raising her children in Berlin to reveal the differences - fundamental and trivial, serious and humorous - between German and American parenting, finding lessons in the ways Germans rear their children from birth to adolescence. Zaske probes our cultural differences and mines the hard data to offer us her pungent observations. Her insights deserve our attention (Robert LeVine, author of Do Parents Matter?)

Step aside French Children Don't Throw Food and Tiger-Mothering . . . Blending her own family's often funny experiences with interviews with other parents, teachers and experts, Zaske shares some unexpected European parenting lessons (Bookseller)

Supported by statistics and research studies, Zaske makes a strong argument that German parenting practices are creating smarter and more productive parents and children alike (Publishers Weekly)

An entertaining, informative, and enlightening narrative on the German methods of parenting (Kirkus Reviews)

Warm and companionable . . . I closed [Achtung Baby] feeling more relaxed and confident. While both my kids were up a tree (Helen Brown Daily Mail)

Zaske details her experience mothering in Germany to present a portrait of German-style parenting that is at once entertaining, surprising, and instructive. With curiosity and insight, she reveals how many of our parenting assumptions stem not from evidence but from insecurity and fear (Kim Brooks, author of The Houseguest and Small Animals, and editor, Salon.com)

I was completely drawn into this marvelous account of how Zaske learned to trust her children and allow them the freedoms they craved. It is the story of one family and, at the same time, of childrens' and parents' lives in two huge modern nations. I recommend it to all American parents, educators, policy makers, and others concerned with children's lives and the future of our society (Peter Gray, author of Free to Learn)