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Wall Street Journal

‘Please Yell at My Kids' Review: A World of Parenting Tips

Marina Lopes suspects that many Americans would be horrified by the 'birth parties' popular in Brazil, at which expectant mothers host guests—sometimes dozens of them—in their hospital delivery rooms. In some cases, friends and relatives observe scheduled caesarean sections from viewing galleries. In 'Please Yell at My Kids: What Cultures Around the World Can Teach You About Parenting in Community, Raising Independent Kids, and Not Losing Your Mind,' Ms. Lopes contrasts such gatherings with the seclusion typical of childbirth in the United States. Attending a festive birth event in São Paulo, she hears the newborn's grandmother, holding both the infant and a glass of wine, tell her grandson, 'you see, darling. Life's a party.' Ms. Lopes, a journalist who was born in Brazil and raised in Miami, samples a range of parenting approaches from around the world. Her own is included: During the Covid-19 pandemic, Ms. Lopes moved with her husband and children from Florida to Singapore, where they joined their closest friends for an arrangement in which the families would share 'childcare, playdates, and parenting each other's kids.' In the episode that gives the book its title, Ms. Lopes watched as her child was admonished by one of the other parents for his misbehavior. Such an outsourcing of family discipline would make her American acquaintances 'uneasy,' she writes, but she values it as part of belonging to a 'proverbial village.'