I am lost for words....

Lilly, telling us you're lost for words doesn't really help the discussion. Are you aghast at the controversy over the book? Over the book itself?

Our generation has been shockingly greedy and self-absorbed; it is evident in every other aspect of life: political, economic, social. All of our institutions are failing, unless there are quiet, unsung heroes at the helm just doing their job. It's not a surprise that parenting is now such a competitive self-focused enterprise. Just because some are going overboard does not mean that every caring parent with high standards is wrong. I don't know why people are so angry with the authors unless the message it cutting a little too close. Look up "psychological defense mechanism."

I really apprechiate the honesty of the authors, and I feel sad that they are being harrassed for speaking their opinions.

I have a friend who is currently raising her 5 year old daughter in Pleasanton, and is constantly exhausted from running her child to soccer, and dance as well as music classes. I don't understand why she is so driven to get her daughter to these activities that she is almost killing herself!!

My boyfriend was raised in Pleasanton also, but by parents who were the extreme opposite of the parents written about in this book. His parents were never home, because they were working so hard to pay for the big morgage, the fancy cars and expensive gadgets. My man has grown up with a different sense of entitlement. He expects to have expensive "things" that our completely out of our budget but he never learned how to take care of things because they were always just handed to him.

Something is going terribly wrong with the kids in affluent suburbs like Pleasanton.

I found parents on the east coast (where I'm from) are much more competitive than here in Pleasanton.

Agreed, Nina. More competitive, but of a healthier sort, brought about by better educated parents. In P-Town there are simply all too many uneducated Okies who struck it rich, and now can think of nothing other than their own kids being rich. It's really quite sad.