Parenting young adults at any time in history is a challenge. They're growing into new thoughts and ways of living. And as parents, we're readjusting our role and letting go of expectations. This day and age has added an additional layer of challenge as parents are navigating a shifting world along with their shifting roles. So how can we successfully launch our 18 year olds into adult life? And how can we feel confident in the way forward?
Author Melanie Springer Mock brings her years of parenting, combined with her years of teaching experience together in her new book, Finding Our Way Forward, to talk about how we parent in the adult years. Written post-pandemic, Mock addresses the shifting times we live in and how Gen Z is finding their way. Mock also calls upon her readers to look to the new generation to lead the way in what she finds to be innovative ways of living and thinking. She points out how the old ways of living and leading are no longer working, and how to observe these young adults for better ways of moving forward.
I found Mock's book to be extremely off putting and off base. What she's calling for is a radical abdication of established norms in favor of untested principles. Throughout the book, wherever old patterns find themselves at odds with newer ideas, the older ways of doing things are always discounted as out of date. The new is what will work. While I do believe our young adults are smart and innovative, to say that they're going to save us is shortsighted and dangerous. Additionally, Mock is extremely biased and stereotypes large groups of people. She repeatedly brings up the "white evangelical" church with a tone of distain and stereotypes "white cisgender men" multiple times throughout the book. And these are just two examples. Finding Our Way Forward is full of judgement on multiple groups of people. Furthermore, she perpetuates political biases that have been discredited; still she repeats them as fact.
I had such high hopes for this book. I really tried to come to Finding Our Way Forward with an open mind, ready to learn. But I walked away from the book with such a distaste for Mock's work. Other than a few ideas about how to encourage our young adults, there's nothing in this title that I would recommend. Greatly disappointed in this one and would warn my readers to run far from it.
*Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book for free. All opinions are my own.
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