Rating: 
Summary: who told you that America is child-friendly?!
Review: Raising children is a very hard work, but, as most other industrialzied countries have realized, it is one of the most important jobs outthere. Our children will be the ones taking care of us, curing us, cooking for us, making our clothes etc. and most importantly moving the economy forward so that we ALL can enjoy a retirement. It is only fair, that those who do not raise their own children chip in to help those who do. United States is NOT family-friendly. It is the only industrialized country with NO maternity leave, and daycare costs are higher than college tuition. The child tax-credit is ridiculous and doesn't help all that much. Stop whining and thank those who choose to have children inspite of all of the difficulties and costs involved.
Rating: 
Summary: More eloquent and persuasive than I ever could have hoped...
Review: I've made a lot of the arguments in this book in casual conversation dozens of times. There is no right to have children, there is no right to have your personal choices subsidized by the state, government shouldn't favor some citizens over others, companies are being unfair when the give workers with kids more pay for the same work, etc. But never have I seen so many salient objections to the "child-friendly culture" put together with such excellent examples and research. Hopefully, with what I learned from reading this book, I'll actually have a shot at winning some of these arguments in the future. But I won't hold my breath, because as Burkett observes, people are unwilling to admit that they're wrong when they'd have to give up so many priveleges to do so.
Rating:
Summary: Much To Think About
Review: An eye opener, especially for those who are childfree. This is required reading not only for the childfree, but those who are working class. Read the book and you'll see what I mean.
Rating: 
Summary: The "victimization" of America continues.........
Review: In The Baby Boon : How Family-Friendly America Cheats the Childless Elinor Burkett continues what apparently was the major sport of the `90's-portraying oneself as a victim of some sort of social policy or social trend. Here, Burkett-in a writing voice elegantly reminiscent of a whiny 6 year old-argues that the childless are in fact a discriminated against subset of the populace.In point of fact, Burkett does raise some valid points and provide some interesting and compelling arguments for her case. Clearly there are some ways I which those with children benefit from social policy. The problem is that few working parent enjoy anything like the full smorgasbord of "benefits" Burkett is upset about. To hear Burkett tell it, every parent everywhere has it easy/better/whatever than the childless over a huge range of perks/benefits/allowances. Most people, in most jobs and circumstances, might enjoy one or two of these, but not much more. These "benefits" are irregularly deployed and highly regional in nature. Of course, there are ways the childless benefit from others having children. Who is it all these bellyaching whiners think it is that will provide the wage taxes to pay their Social Security payments, for example? It's the children of those who they are griping about. However, not a single word about the benefits these other people provide the childless by having kids ever pops up in this text. Moreover, there is plenty of reason to believe that, insofar as companies do provide these benefits, they do so not to be nice to their "parent" employees but do so to further their own selfish interests-they provide these benefits to attract the quality and quantity of employees they need to further their corporate interests. I'll give this 2 stars as a few valid points are made, but if you are looking for a fair and balanced examination of this topic, you won't get it here.
Rating: 
Summary: Biased
Review: I think that this book is one that is mostly based on bitterness. While Ms. Burkett claims to have done a plethora of research about family-friendly companies, benefits to parents and situations where society has equated "woman" to "mother", it is clear that her research is skewed to support her point of view. There are parts of the book which are well written, where I can't even guess what her personal opinions are on the topic, and for that I applaud her. This book discusses a topic that most people have strong opinions on and it is geared to get a reaction. I believe that Ms. Burkett intended to show how ungrateful parents are for the "special privileges" that they are awarded. What this book illustrates is that there are people in this world who are ungrateful for everything that they are given, including the author. There have been many positive changes in this world as we strive to make it a better place for the next generation. And parents are the ones who are making many of those sacrifices. I don't agree with parents being inconsiderate to non-parents, whether it's allowing their children to misbehave in public, assuming that other co-workers will take up the slack while they leave early or come in late, or just being such bad parents that their children grow up to be thugs. Becoming a parent is the hardest decision that a person has to make with their life. The problem that Ms. Burkett doesn't really acknowledge is that people do not take enough responsibility to plan having children when they are financially ready and emotionally stable enough to become parents. Ultimately, it makes sense that a country will invest in people who are building the next generation. For people who don't have children, they opt out of taking benefits that are just as available to them. It's sad to see that so many people spend their lives comparing themselves to others to actively search for reasons to feel angry.
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