The instant New York Times bestseller! * One of Behavioral Scientist s Notable Books of 2021
Emily Oster dives into the data on parenting issues cuts through the clutter and gives
families the bottom line to help them make better decisions. Good Morning America A targeted
mini-MBA program designed to help moms and dads establish best practices for day-to-day
operations. -The Washington PostFrom the bestselling author of Expecting Better and Cribsheet
the next step in data driven parenting from economist Emily Oster.In The Family Firm Brown
professor of economics and mom of two Emily Oster offers a classic business school framework
for data-driven parents to think more deliberately about the key issues of the elementary
years: school health extracurricular activities and more. Unlike the hourly challenges of
infant parenting the big questions in this age come up less frequently. But we live with the
consequences of our decisions for much longer. What's the right kind of school and at what age
should a particular kid start? How do you encourage a healthy diet? Should kids play a sport
and how seriously? How do you think smartly about encouraging children's independence? Along
with these bigger questions Oster investigates how to navigate the complexity of day-to-day
family logistics. Making these decisions is less about finding the specific answer and more
about taking the right approach. Parents of this age are often still working in baby mode
which is to say under stress and on the fly. That is a classic management problem and Oster
takes a page from her time as a business school professor at the University of Chicago to show
us that thoughtful business process can help smooth out tough family decisions. The Family Firm
is a smart and winning guide to how to think clearly--and with less ambient stress--about the
key decisions of the elementary school years. Parenting is a full-time job. It's time we start
treating it like one.
