to wonder who Oliver James is? working mothers look away!

[Chulita]

Here Sorry if there's a thread on it already, I just read this and was a bit

Again, I sort of expect a bit of cherry picking, but at least he's got some background in the area.

Agree re Affluenza being shallow, but at least James provides an antidote to some of the ridiculously deterministic views that have been around for a while.

Two entirely different articles. Since the Guardian one appears to have been written by James himself, I guess that one will be more respresentative of his views. The Telegraph's take on it all is hardly surprising. They've used the quotes in a blatantly biased manner to support the view of the journalist, or so it seems to me.

In the Guardian article, James mentions more than once that men need to take on more of the childcare roll! In fact, that seemed to be the crux of the piece.

Oliver James strikes me as a fairly odd individual.

It's not good enough to call yourself a psychologist and peddle outdated theory as fact, though Xenia.

And he certainly does not agree that childcare is good for children. He would see you as sacrificing your children's emotional wellbeing for material gain.

The thing is his view is very westernised - in other cultures desirable behavioural outcomes are different to those we have in the west - ie: individualism, independence

I don't see that he's unethical- opinionated, possibly wrong, but I can't see he falls outside of BPS requirements ( assuming he's a member and I confess my memory is a bit hazy as I haven't looked for a few years).

Oh the Guardian one drives me crazy. I too always have a sense of deja vu and wonder why the Guardian is publishing the same article over and over again!
It always makes me feel really shite about myself and gives me loads of guilt about being a working mum. I must stop reading it.

Yay Avril for that website. A Bad Science-type deconstruction was just what I was after. Thanks for posting that.

well I don't feel guilty about either my or my DH's decision to go out to work, and I read his column every week....

I find it odd it is in the Guardian. I thought this was more the sort of stuff DM-readers wanked over.

I'm especially glad Avril that that blog picked up the breastfeeding and anti-depressants misinformation. I was so angry when I read that and thought of all the women who would go on to have the first few months of their child's life wrecked just because they/ their DH/ mother (or whoever) read some ill-informed twat pontificating in The Guardian and so didn't dare to go to the GP to get some help with their PND.

Obv this is a touchy subject but it seems obv to me that children are best raised by their parents. If a parent can't or doesn't want to raise their own child then the next best is high quality childcare within or without the family. It is fact that our brains are hard wired during those critical early years. A child of a working mother is not guaranteed to be a terror and neither is the child of a sah mother guaranted to be an angel - with child rearing as with most things in life you get out what you put in.

Feast your eyes

what is with his nose? Ahhh poor OJ, his heart is in the right place I think

Sorry am late to the discussion - and do apologise if already mentioned - Timesonline identify a 'Mumsnet Fatwa' on OJ

women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/families/article7128742.ece

Oliver James is pretty old though. Grew up in the fifties. Times have changed. Women work.

OJ's vision of jam-making and baking and stuff has changed. Hardly anyone makes jam any more. House prices are such that simply to have a roof over your head you have to either (a) rent (b) live in social housing or (c) have a significant joint income.

Welcome to the 21st century, OJ.

okay it was 'Mumsnet-type fatwa' put upon him.

See? I am not being unfair to old OJ

?Look, I am 56 and I bring to my experience certain prejudices of a man of my generation. I did think I had to be the breadwinner."

It's all a bit tired and irrelevant really, isn't it? Women can have lives outside the home. If they want to.

What is a Mumsnet fatwa? being tied up and forcefed chocolate Hobnobs while being read Simone de Beauvoir?
Agree re general opinion on OJ.

ruckyrunt "it has to be the dads fault as sahm get naughty children, working mothers get naughty children - therefore the only logical explanation is that the dads are doing something not right and it is making children naughty "

haha so true!
racingheart have you met him? So interesting that he turns out to be an unpleasant character who smarms up to you when you stick up to him

Also he used to shag girls 20 years younger than him.
He is sexist and gets it wrong more often than not, like when he says "the sexes have never got on worse" Err, yeah, that's because women can divorce abusive men thesedays

But I like his books and writing style. I loved Affluenza. He is sexist, but I didn't read him as being against working mothers. More like just a plea to priotize childcare with your earnings, rather than anything else. I agree with him. My mother worked full-time outside the home and got the cheapest child-care she could for us, but paid for lots of clothes and activities. I think she had her priorities very wrong ( I had some bad experiences in childcare).

Also, I like the point he makes that the work of mothering is very important to children, whoever does it (mother, father etc). I completely agree with that.

I love the way he is so against The One We Cannot Name. Yes, there's lots of ok stuff in what he write.

Avril, loved reading the neuroskeptic blog too. thanks!

Oliver James is a cock-end!