Rating: 
Summary: Who would have thought?
Review: Someone left this book on the break table at work, and I started reading out of curiosity. At the end of my shift, I headed to a bookstore to buy it. I have 3 kids and I have never stopped before to think about who picks up shifts when I or the other parents in my office leave early or can't come in. I never stopped to think that the policies and tax laws that are being written are unfair to people who don't have kids. Like most people, I like to think that everyone who works with me doesn't mind when I have to leave early to pick up my kids or attend a school function. It is very eye opening for me to see that the people I have been passing work to when I was wearing my Mom hat have lives too. It is really easy to get wrapped up in My Kids and My Life, and not think about anyone else's lives. I highly recommend this book to every person, parent or childless, who thinks that the system in place is fair to all employees. It obviously is not and I am glad Burkett had the balls to write an honest, eye opening book. This is one person who will be making sure she appreciates the people who pick up the extra work so she can be home with her kids when she needs to care for them.
Rating: 
Summary: Boon, baby, boon!
Review: Elinor Burkett points out that Clinton administration tax breaks go only to the well-to-do; poor children don't have a lobby in Washington. So the spenders keep spending (mommy vans, SUVs, home theater systems, ski vacations, designer child togs...but they're all FOR THE CHILDREN, doncha know) and the childfree by choice foot an unfair tax bill. Not to mention shouldering an unequal load at the office and largely having their employee benefit plan needs ignored. (Fat lot of good adoption benefits do for those who will never adopt.)Burkett includes a valuable historic exposition on how we came to this pass and how feminists sold out women who choose not to be mothers. She tries to be very clear that she (like many other childfree people) does not hate children, but inevitably this message will be misinterpreted by the breeder corps. After all, if you don't have a dog, that must mean you're anti-canine.
Rating:
Summary: Great book
Review: This book should be required reading for college students. Elinor Burkett holds no punches when she lists the many ways nonparents are cheated and degraded in modern society. She also reveals how this baby-worship has come about. She is an articulate author and she keeps the book interesting. People should leave this book on the desk of their bosses!
Rating:
Summary: No, You Don't Have to Breed
Review: I chose to read The Baby Boon after some recommendations from a few friends. I found Burkett's book to be refreshing, well-researched, and well-written. As a woman who has chosen not to have children, I am insulted that society seems to say to me that my efforts aren't as important since I'm not directing them to raising children, and I do feel cheated by picking up the slack for parents when Junior sneezes or has a soccer game. I also find it unfair that more of my money ends up in Uncle Sam's pockets because parents who don't need the extra help use the help but the truly needy can't GET the help. It is not just the childless which are being cheated, but I gather from the book that lower income parents are being cheated as well. Burkett's book does a great job of addressing these point and also casts a somewhat feminist light on the issue in one chapter where she recounts the various arguments used, both past and present, to pressure women into childbearing, whether they necessarily wanted them or not. I HIGHLY recommend this book, and whether you're a parent or voluntarily childfree, you will be mad when you put it down.
Rating:
Summary: Elinor preaches my gospel!
Review: Finally, someone puts into print what the rest of the childfrees have been saying for years! Ms. Burkett brilliantly frames the many prejudices nonparents encounter-- in taxes, at work, even in grocery store parking lots with "Expectant mom parking"! What's even better is that the author details how this discrimination has developed over the past 30 years, something that had previously puzzled me. Especially funny is the author's recount of her short conversation with feminist Betty Friedan, when Ms. Burkett details how feminism was ironically part of the cause of this baby-mania. I'd suggest that childfrees buy extra copies to mail to their senators, city councilpersons, work superviors, and the CEOs of their companies.
Rating:
Summary: A great book!
Review: After reading some of the other reviews from childed people who claim to have read "The Baby Boon", I had to speak up. I enjoyed this book greatly and feel that the parents who have put down this work are feeling threatened that their "sacred" position of parenthood is being questioned. No, parents are not special - giving birth is no miracle, parents should not expect concessions because they bred. Parents should not expect the childless and childfree to shoulder the burden for them at work, and amoung extended family. People without children, believe it or not, DO have lives. Finally, the excuse that "we were all kids once.." is lame...I resent my taxes being used for frivolous things for kids. "The Baby Boon" will become a rallying point for those without children, and will empower them to demand that their rights not be trampled on by childcentric government, ignorant parents, and "child-friendly" workplaces.
Rating:
Summary: Thank you, Elinor Burkett
Review: Elinor Burkett does a wonderful job of showing how some lifestyle choices (having kids) are heavily subsidized, at the expense of those who wish to pursue other lifestyles. Let's make equal pay for equal work a reality, and stop subsidizing some at the expense of others. Buy the book, and spread the word.
Rating:
Summary: Breeders and their sense of entitlement
Review: When you howl, you're hit, and the way the breeders are howling over this book shows Burkett did something right. This book is a wonderful read for all those who are sick of parents acting as if the laws of physics were changed when their pweshus childrun were born and the earth had to revolve around their little brats. Read it and act on it with your vote, your dollar and your attitude.
Rating:
Summary: Prepare to be angry. Prepare to think.
Review: If you are childfree and read this book, you're going to be angry when you realize just how badly you are getting cheated. If you have children and you read this book, you're going to be angry at the thought of someone daring to suggest that the inequity of benefits in America's workforce might be unfairly balanced in your favor. Either way, this book will disturb you and make you uncomfortable. However, it is an excellent read and a strong voice crying out which has long been silenced in our pronatalist society. Of course, those who disagree with its premise will dismiss it as bitter whining, but read it...and make up your own mind. For those who argue that sacrifices that all adults make for those who have chosen to have children benefit society in large, then everyday news events suggest that perhaps the childfree are not getting their money's worth and are angrily starting to demand a refund.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant expose that has spoiled parents running scared!
Review: Kudos to Ms. Burkett for exposing the grossest form of socially-acceptable dicrimination in the US today! The parental-entitlement camp does not want you to read this book because they're terrified that the truth is out: their parental status does not make them "special" in the eyes of the childfree/childless taxpayers and co-workers who fund their entitlements. We are fed up with being treated as second class citizens. Our numbers are large and growing, we're getting organized, and we're not going away. Parents, especially middle-to-upper class parents, need to lose their sense of self-importance. Parenthood is a CHOICE, a choice that demands great sacrifice and responsibility. Those of us who have the sense to choose NOT to bring another little consumer into an already-overpopulated world aren't bitter because parents are getting something we don't need; we're bitter because we are tired of being called "selfish" over our reluctance to subsidize someone else's choices. Hopefully some day, the real truth will be acknowledged: that parents are the selfish ones. In their quest to "have it all", they don't care who they step on -- their co-workers, their neighbors, or Mother Earth. This book is an important step in the right direction.
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