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How to Ruin a Child

A Journey into the Alarming, Hilarious and Ever-Changing Advice Given to Australian Parents

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How to Ruin a Child

Written by: Richard Glover
Narrated by: Richard Glover
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Behind every generation of Australian mothers and fathers in the last more than hundred years, stood an army of advisors – magazine columnists, expert authors, nurses, priests and government agencies. Most of those experts were very certain about their own rules. Any deviation would produce a dire result: you'd ruin a child.

Yet, over time, the advice kept changing. Each generation was told that the last generation had it all wrong. How peculiar that most of the experts did not have children of their own.

And, for the current generation of parents, history offers a consolation. When relatives, and other critics, tell young parents that they are 'doing it all wrong', and that different (usually stricter) methods would make everything go smoothly, the experience of Australian parents over time is wonderfully reassuring. Parenting is tough, however you do it, and the outcome, however you do it, is usually a perfectly fine human.

©2026 Richard Glover (P)2026 Bolinda Publishing. This audio version produced by arrangement with HarperCollins Publishers Australia Pty Limited
Fatherhood Parenting Relationships
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Critic Reviews

'Funny, intelligent and very useful – it will make you trust yourself more and relax into the moment with your kids, which is what they need most.' (Steve Biddulph, author of Raising Boys in the 21st Century)
'Ridiculously funny and breathtakingly profound, this book is the present every new parent needs.' (Rebecca Sparrow, Birds of a Feather Book Club)
'A parenting book where you get to laugh out loud. Every parent deserves to read.' (Madonna King, author of Being 14)
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