How to be an adult - and how to raise one (w/ Julie Lythcott-Haims) (re-release)

In 'Real American,' Julie Lythcott-Haims shares a deeply personal and candid look at her experiences growing up as a biracial woman. The book is a collection of vignettes that address her internal struggles with race, identity, and belonging. It delves into microaggressions, discrimination, and racism, and how these factors have shaped her life. The memoir also highlights the healing power of community in overcoming the isolation and self-loathing that often accompany being considered 'the other.' Lythcott-Haims' narrative is a powerful exploration of what it means to be Black in America and her path to self-love and acceptance.

In 'Your Turn: How to Be an Adult', Julie Lythcott-Haims provides a groundbreakingly frank guide to adulthood. The book focuses on the process of becoming an adult, rather than adhering to traditional markers such as finishing education, getting a job, leaving home, marrying, and having children. Lythcott-Haims offers compassion, personal experience, and practical strategies for living a more authentic adulthood. She includes interviews with diverse individuals who have successfully launched their adult lives, emphasizing the importance of personal integrity, moral behavior, self-compassion, and self-love. The book encourages readers to take an active role in shaping their lives, learn to fend for themselves, and build meaningful relationships and careers[3][4][5].

In this book, Julie Lythcott-Haims draws on research, conversations with admissions officers, educators, and employers, and her own insights as a mother and student dean to highlight the ways in which overparenting harms children, their stressed-out parents, and society at large. She offers practical alternative strategies that emphasize the importance of allowing children to make their own mistakes and develop the resilience, resourcefulness, and inner determination necessary for success. The book is relevant to parents of toddlers, teens, and twentysomethings, and serves as a rallying cry for those who wish to ensure the next generation can take charge of their own lives with competence and confidence.