The Blessing of A Skinned Knee

This Virtual Book Club selection is The Blessing of a Skinned Knee by Wendy Mogel.

Last summer, one of the moms from my son's basketball team told me about Wendy Mogel's The Blessing of a Skinned Knee: Using Jewish Teachings to Raise Self-Reliant Children. My friend raved about it, saying it was the only parenting book that made any sense to her. I ordered the book the next day, and I, too, came to adore it. The book was originally published in 2001 -- a tough year to publish just about anything due to 9/11.

The paperback has experienced a grass-roots resurgence, and Mogel was profiled last October in the New York Times Magazine. Practical, common-sensical, easy to read, the book is particularly applicable to American parents raising children in urban, privileged settings. It is filled with advice on how to raise your children to respect you and other adults, how to partner with your children's teachers, and how to accept that your kids, like most children, benefit by being treating as "ordinary." Wendy Mogel finds her inspiration in Jewish teachings; these didn't speak to me at all. But her interpretations sure did.

What did you think?

By Leslie Morgan Steiner |  February 23, 2007; 6:30 AM ET  | Category:  Virtual Book Club
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