Call me a soppy old bag, but Steve Biddulph’s interview on the ABC brought tears to my eyes. If you have something to keep your hands busy, this is really, really, really worth listening to:
ABC Classic FM – Midday – Parenting author and educator Steve Biddulph
http://www.abc.net.au/classic/content/2013/02/13/3685524.htm
Not only does Steve have awesome taste in music, but he has a lot of awesome things to say. I was particularly inspired by:
1. The idea that if you subtract 12 from your teenager’s actual age, you will get their emotional development age. eg 13-12=1; 14-12=2 (o joy, the tantrums and self assertion stage revisited!)
2. Girls with involved fathers, who invest in their daughters the belief that they like hanging out with them, typically delay the age at which girls become sexually active by 2 years.
3. Steve is convinced he had Asperger’s as a teenager and jokes that he studied psychology in order to learn to talk to girls. He says Asperger’s differs from autism in that Aspies care what people think about them and crave friendship. They feel separated by a pane of glass from others in their efforts to connect with them and they can learn techniques to combat this. (Aren’t we all closet Aspies on the spectrum somewhere?)
Mild mannered, clearly speaking through a smile, Steve rails against the vampire marketers and psychologists that have targeted 8-year-old girls as easy fodder, along with those of us who dare to be unhappy with our unphotoshopped bodies.
A great interview. A great man who wants only greatness for our girls.