Rating: 
Summary: Important but not going to win converts
Review: By now -- July 20, 2000, months after publication of "The Baby Boon" -- it's clear that Elinor Burkett has not accomplished what she probably set out to do with the book -- transform the public debate about parental rights and privileges.That's a shame because her book deserved a better hearing. "The Baby Boon" eviscerates the absurdity of the family-first sirens that regrettably still sing from every corner of the nation -- from the presidential hopefuls to newspaper pundits. (Washington Post columnist William Raspberry apparently never read this book -- and the mild dig Burkett takes at him -- judging by some of his recent writings.) Burkett passionately makes the case that the childless -- or in the words of one of Burkett's sources, the "child free" -- get a bum deal in U.S. society. Those without children likely will nod their heads approvingly throughout the book, perhaps with occasional fist pumping -- go, girl! Like an rampaging Ralph Nader, Burkett is at her best highlighting political proposals ostensibly aimed at helping poor parents, when in fact they're just unnecessary middle-class affirmative action. She also scores when pulling the curtain on how ludicrous some of the fear-mongering and double-speak employed by celebrities and politicians. Why does "family" only mean "parents"? Why is "woman" synonymous with "mother"? Appropriate disapproval is cast on wealthy parents bemoaning the vagaries of child-rearing and the attempts at seeking government handouts. The book moves from that problem to an intriguing discussion of government duty vs. personal responsibility. In one of the most quotable lines of the book, Burkett says, "Rights are guarantees of opportunities, not outcomes." Amen. She also hearkens back to some of that old-time (and admirable) feminism -- the kind that features such mantras as, "Treat all women equally and respect their decisions, whether it means having children or not." Somehow, as Burkett shows, women's freedom of lifestyle choice again has been usurped by the "every good woman is a child-bearing woman" model. The tragic flaw of "The Baby Boon," however, is that Burkett's shrill tone crackles with too much indignation. No one on the opposing front line in this debate is going to be swayed by the book, despite her attempts in the last chapter to offer some means of conciliation. It's hard enough to get parents to talk rationally about policies on children without causing even greater defensiveness -- go to your next scheduled school board meeting and you'll see what I mean. Had Burkett not sounded like a version of PETA for the childless, maybe America would be talking about fairer work policies and tax laws for women, mothers and everyone else in society rather than the same, bland platitudes about families that triggered the writing of "The Baby Boon" in the first place.
Rating: 
Summary: May not speak for all, but raises some very GOOD points
Review: I skimmed through this book some time ago and I was struck by the scolding tone that it carries. But at least it is speaking out for the rights of the workers and everyone else in general who chose to be CF. Do you see some peculiar ironies here? We now have about 6 billion people living on this tiny planet. And more are being born to be added to this ever-growing population. In fact, it's been predicted we might reach about 10 or 12 billion by 2020 or so, if I get the statistics correctly. This does put a strain on our society; one of the results meaning that we have to work longer and harder for more and more people. In fact, our weekends could very possibly be cut out someday so we would have to put in all this extra workload. What does that leave our children? Alone and lonely and needy. So any company that wants to show its concern decides to create some privileges for the working parents so they can take some time out to tend to the needs of their families like newborn infants and sick children. Of course, that would be quite beneficial to the harried, overworked parents. BUT, if Elinor Burkett is right, then it is not fair that companies are arrogantly exploiting the childless or childfree workers for the sake of all the parents and their families. Not to mention the still-ignorant atttitudes toward the without-children segment of the whole population. So the big irony here is that if the CF lifestyle is more widely accepted, then its rate would be allowed to climb until it at least fills half of the whole population. As a result - much to unspoken fears for the entire humanity - the very number of people may take a very drastic and terrifying nosedive down to ... perhaps about 3 billion or so at the most. Therefore, the whole pressure would be finally taken off and perhaps we can even all get to go home at about 2pm in the afternoon and ..... thus the parents would have much more time with their children! Not to mention the finally relieving of stress, fatigue, and bad tempers especially to the poor kids who obviously didn't deserve it in the first place. See the huge irony? Try "Time Bind: When Work Becomes Home And Home Becomes Work" for a closer look at the big picture. One more thing I'd like to add: not all children are just spoiled brats; they are only innocent young human beings with very real needs. But - kids can still be very smart and caring people as well.
Rating:
Summary: GREAT Premise, WEAK Conclusion
Review: I was thrilled to see that somebody else noticed what many of my friends and I have been complaining about for years: that irresponsible parents demand the right to our time and money so they can have the fruits of adulthood while evading the costs of raising the children they *chose* to breed. Not only are we childfree adults forced to pay to send other adults' kids to school, but we have to pick up the breeders' slack at work, tolerate their kids' terrible behavior at public places, and live with their screaming and romping beside our very homes. As the author very perceptively notes, this sense of entitlement is buttressed entirely by a slew of special laws that have been created and supported by both the political left and right, from Betty Freidan (who hung up on the author!) to George W. Bush (who will soon begin lactating if he doesn't quit pandering to Soccer Moms). The only problem with the book is that it's prescriptions don't fit the disease: the erosion of self-responsibility. While I understand that we can't do it overnight, it seems that steps like school privatization are the only sorts of steps that respect an individual's choice to be childfree. Agree or not, the authors' prescription is "compromise," and all of her examples are the same sorts of compromises that childfree adults have been making for years--paying for other adults' contrary choices. (As for being "selfish," I am, and I'm proud enough of my selfishness TO PAY FOR IT MYSELF.)
Rating:
Summary: One aspect of our rapidly changing world
Review: This book is an interesting (yet sometimes emotionally manipulative) commentary on modern attitudes about what is basically a biological imperative that is no longer "imperative". With the availability and use of reliable birth control, for the first time in history, women are free from a formerly imposed role of childbearer and caregiver. They now have the ability (at least in more modernized cultures) to persue nontraditional lives. One major and important choice is the one that allows them to forgo being mothers. Yet at the same time we have the advances of science that allow barren wannabe-parents to not only have children, but to have them in numbers that are more accurately described as "litters". (Remember the McCaughey family?) Yes, there are iniquities abound that allow people of means to claim "more" for the sake of what is nowadays a CHOICE. But we must all also remember in our rush to join either side that this is still a very new time in human history in which people can choose to remain individual from "the community". We are no longer forced to rely on that old system, but choose to keep it alive to the extent that the human being is a social creature. At some point we will find a better balance that functions for both the childfree and those with children. Ultimately, this book is but a part of the subsequent, and necessary, social discussions encompassing the topic of human reproduction. Elinor Burkett has written a compelling and provocative book.
Rating: 
Summary: Amen, Elinor!
Review: Today's parents seem to feel an enormous, misplaced sense of entitlement, just because they chose to have children and bring stress and financial strain to their lives, as well as noise and constant interruption to their night's sleep. Now they want the rest of us to relieve them of the consequences of their actions. Their smokescreen revolves around the idea that somehow, just because they had kids, they are benefiting society as a whole, which they deserve to be compensated for. How does it automatically benefit me when people have children? If their children grow up to be productive citizens, they may be my doctors, mechanics, hairstylists, or grocers. When that time comes, I will gladly pay them for the services they render me. That is a form of trade, of even exchange - not something that is being done strictly for my benefit at no cost. On the other hand, if their children grow up to be menacing thugs, they will merely be a drain on my tax dollars and on the criminal justice system. Further, we are all facing many global environmental concerns due to overpopulation, which would suggest that anyone concerned with benefiting the human race would be doing the rest of us a much bigger favor by NOT having children. I am sick of people patting themselves on the back just for banging out a kid - something they did strictly for their own self gratification and which any 14-year-old too stupid to use contraception can achieve. You'd think they did it to be some sort of grand martyr for the sake of humanity at large. Elinor Burkett asks the bullseye question: When did we start equating "parent" with "needy?" She points out the benefits that are heaped upon upper and middle class parents, strictly due to the fact that they are parents, not because they are truly needy. The only point I take issue with is that for many poor people, "parent" DOES equal "needy," since they would not be in the poorhouse if they had used enough common sense to prevent pregnancy in the first place. An income of $20,000 a year is not considered to be below the poverty level for a single person, but it is when that single person has four kids. I feel that most welfare entitlement programs are also simply rewarding people for their poor choices in becoming parents, when they were obviously unprepared to do so. Other than this one inconsistency, I think the book was right on, and extremely engrossing to read. I hope it really makes an impact!
Rating:
Summary: Rings true on 2nd reading!
Review: After reading this book for a second time - it was interesting to compare the similar problems created by certain entitlements (for people with absolutely no money worries!) in the UK. Other UK reviewers may want to look home before being so harsh on a country that they may have never lived in! Great book - I do recommend it to readers in other countries!
Rating:
Summary: Not Just The Childfree Perspective
Review: Elinor Burkett reveals some bold truths in Baby Boon: How Family-Friendly America Cheats the Childless that are bound to irk middle-class white American mothers to no end. Elinor reveals the entitlements that this group of women thinks they deserve wholly by "merit" of some mythic monumental status motherhood supposedly endows, whether warranted or not. American government and business are indulging this sacred cow by providing tax cuts, breast-feeding rooms, daycare benefits and other Mommy perks which are paid for by those that gain no advantage other than seeing that suburban Mommies are leading richer, more fulfilling, less frazzled lives. Their supposed "burden" of "having it all", but not being able to handle it, is being alleviated by shifting the tax and time burdens to the rest of society---and the poor and non-parents are the biggest losers in this political game. The poor, because the political reparations for working mothers came with reduced spending for real social programs that tax cuts can not address; the non-parents, because they pick up the slack in the working mothers' absences and are taxed beyond traditional and reasonable societal expectations sheerly to provide new indulgences to placate voting mothers. It is not the government's or corporate America's place to ensure a perfectly enriching life for anyone, let alone a select group that they choose to discriminate on behalf of. Most middle-class white American parents make a conscious choice to become parents: it is not a disadvantage unexpectedly thrust upon them, it is not life threatening, nor is it physically debilitating. Policies which evoke the word "sacred" to motherhood or traditional two parent families---and reward those Middle American "ideals"---delegate the rest of the nation to second class citizenry. A book like Burkett's is thought provoking and long overdue. I hope it starts a much needed dialogue that's not couched in parenthood worship.
Rating: 
Summary: *Sigh*
Review: I remember before I became a parent and those that were already would tell me I had no idea how it would change my life and I thought to myself, "oh yeah, right. I've got a good imagination." But they were oh so right. I had no clue! Kind of like the author to this book. American is family-friendly? News to the rest of us! Maybe there are some inequities, and some frustrating imbalances where the author did her research, or where some of these other reviewers live, but everywhere I've looked being a parent costs a great deal of power and possibility. Parenting is about the larger spiritual picture of humanity. If children are important, it's because what this world is like ten, fifty, and a hundred years from now is more important than any one life today. With such ignorance, luxury, and malevolence this author writes!
Rating:
Summary: The child-burdened just don't get it...
Review: Ms. Burkett's central thesis is not: "I don't want you to have any perks!" *whine whine*. It's: "The perks given are a bone thrown to keep parents complacent." Things like unpaid medical leave and tax breaks are viable benefits only for the middle and upper-middle classes. These benefits do little to actually offset the costs of childrearing. Thus, people think they're getting something for their "sacrifice", but it's ephemeral. The poor, who really need help feeding their children, much less buying them the latest toys, have nothing, especially with the current Welfare "reform". Tax breaks mean nothing to someone living below the poverty line, and the poor can't afford to take unpaid leave. According to her research, "family-friendly" policies aren't keeping workers around and happy, either, which seems to indicate that my taxes aren't just subsidizing others' choices, but that it's a wasted subsidy. I also find it interesting that my co-workers who pop a sprog are given weeks of leave for their contribution to society, and have a guaranteed job when they return. If I chose to head up North to one of the Reservations and help build a better medical clinic or school, I would not have a job guaranteed to me upon my return, even though I had just made a huge contribution to society. Despite the anger of her book, which many threatened parents cannot see past, her point is clear: these benefits are not doing anything, just fostering senses of entitlement and resentment. I think new parents _should_ be able to take leave, but then so should I. I think parents _should_ be able to leave when their kids get sick, but then I should receive higher pay and faster promotions for taking up any slack. And we should stop feeling pressured to work 60 hours a week, no matter what our parenting status. The resentment myself and other childless/childfree workers feel is a symptom of a BIG problem, and Ms. Burkett's book is an important step towards finding the cure.
Rating:
Summary: Thank You! Thank You, Thank You!
Review: OK, parts of Ms. Burkett's book are whiny and too sarcastic. However, the majority of the book is fantastic and true to life, especially the chapter that deals with the childfree having to explain their choice to people who think that parenting is the apex of life. I really, really wish I could hand Ms. Burkett's book to every insentitive lout who asks me and my husband why we don't have children. (I'm 35, and recently had a hysterectomy.) Why do people feel the need, or think they have the right, to offer their condolences to us, (as if we need them! ) or tell us there are many adoption choices out there, or ask if "I'm okay" with not having children? I hope that parents read this book, and understand that the childfree are not anti-child, miserable or resentful. Ms. Burkett's accurately shows that we have full, happy lives and are sick of the holy than thou attitude of parents and the pandering that employers and politicians make to parents at our expense.
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