The Family Firm

Oster is a self-described data nerd, a delightful contrarian who dared question the status quo, shush the shamers and tell parents what made sense. * The New York Times Book Review *
A targeted mini-MBA program designed to help moms and dads establish best practices for day-to-day operations ... Because this is an Oster book, there's data scattered everywhere - on the development of reading skills by age ... It's all presented in the breezy, skeptical style that's made Oster's work a must-read for parents who don't have the time to investigate Finnish studies about integrating extracurriculars into the school day. * Washington Post *
A guide ... to chart a child's path with less stress and more optimization for healthy habits and future success. * TIME Magazine *
Oster's prose flows well (as usual) lightly sprinkled with the dry wit that suffuses her other books. * Salon *
Oster offers a plethora of rational guidance for parents of kids between pre-K and middle school in this eminently practical guide. * Publishers Weekly *
Merging a business approach with her trademark empowering voice, Emily dispenses the stress-less advice you actually want. -- Audrey Goodson Kingo * Working Mother *
With Oster's help, rather than fear this next stage of parenting, readers can embrace (and even enjoy) the challenge. * Booklist *
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. Her books on pregnancy and toddlers skyrocketed her to parenting-world fame, and now she's back, crunching the numbers on topics that keep parents with school-age kids up at night. * Good Morning America *
Oster draws on her experience as a business school professor to suggest that economic reasoning - the art of making decision-making given constraints - can tell us a lot about how to make some of these hard decisions a little better ... Some careful, economics-inspired thinking can help reduce the anxiety, tension, and stress ... For that alone, The Family Firm is worth picking up -- Charles Fain Lehman * The Washington Free Beacon *
Praise for Cribsheet: * - *
She has crunched all the statistics on breastfeeding, potty training, working mothers and playgroups and discovered there is no optimal set of choices that will produce the perfect child. Most parents say they want happy, well-adjusted, robust kids and there are myriad ways to achieve those results. She's right -- Alice Thomson * The Times *
It couldn't be more relevant ... steers clear of recommendations and cast-iron guarantees, instead promising to arm parents with information to make the decisions that are right for them * Daily Telegraph *
Parenting can be fraught. Cribsheet aims to help parents do better. * Economist *
A huge relief from the scare stories ... Cribsheet is not another call for the end of helicopter parenting or snowplow parenting or whatever kind of parenting is lighting up social media today, and it's not a call to overthrow medical wisdom; it's a call for parenting with context, and it's freeing * Washington Post *
Both refreshing and useful. With so many parenting theories driving us all a bit batty, this is the type of book that we need to help calm things down. * LA Times *
The Guilt-Free, Data-Driven Guide to Parenting ... uses science and stats to cut through the confusion of raising a family ... Smart, relatable, and funny * Bloomberg *
Praise for Emily Oster: * - *
A revelation -- Pandora Sykes
I am so grateful for her work -- Amy Schumer
In my household, [Emily Oster] is the all-knowing Aunt we have never met. Parenting would be a lot more stressful without these books. -- Adam Ozimek * Forbes *