The Tao of Parenting: The Ageless Wisdom of Taoism and the Art of Raising Children

Greta Nagel, author of The Tao of Teaching, turns the spotlight of Taoist wisdom on the seemingly insoluble problems of parenting. As in her previous book, the text is divided into 81 chapters, like the Tao Te Ching itself. Each chapter has a heading from the Tao, followed by a page or so of explication, and these passages in turn are followed by real-life illustrative stories from four families Nagel interviewed. The family stories help to flesh out the philosophical bones, showing how real individuals solved (or sometimes failed to solve) their problems. As you would expect from a book based on Lao-Tsu, there is great emphasis on calmness, flexibility, listening closely to others and respecting your own capacity for common sense and good judgment. The whole exercise will seem a bit earnest to some people, but the format is user-friendly, and the basic lessons (e.g., "Tranquility is more important than perfection" and "When you don't know, say so") deserve repetition. Especially by parents. --Richard Farr