The NEW Parent

Kathryn interviews journalist Healther Shumaker, author of "It's Okay to Go Up the Slide: Renegade Rules for Raising Confident and Creative Kids". Shumaker has an unusual stance on many hot-button parenting topics. For one, she believes we should ban homework and allow our kids to spend their time doing better things, and studies support her opinion. According to recent research, homework has no academic benefit in elementary school, and has very little impact in middle school. In her latest book Shumaker advocates for reinventing our concept of proper parenting, including doing away with homework during the early years and not discouraging our kids from expressing their anger—even if it means being mean. Shumaker's writings have appeared in the New York Post, The Huffington Post, Parenting and Pregnancy. She blogs at Starlighting Mama.