# In Conversation with Richard Glover Source: https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/in-conversation-with-richard-glover/ ![Loading Events](https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/plugins/the-events-calendar/src/resources/images/tribe-loading.gif) In Conversation with Richard Glover November 23 @ 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm $11.00 **Humffray Room** Get Tickets How to Ruin a Child Richard Glover Richard will be in conversation with radio presenter Prue Bentley ![Richard Glover author event promoting How to Ruin a Child](https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/sp-promo-talks-richard-glover.webp) A Journey into the alarming, hilarous and ever-changing advice given to Australian parents. ‘Funny, intelligent, and very useful – it will make you trust yourself more, and relax into the moment with your kids, which is what they need most’ – **Steve Biddulph**. ‘A parenting book where you get to laugh out loud. Every parent deserves to read it – **Madonna King**. **Possibly the funniest and most astonishing book you will read all year. For anyone who has had a child or been a child…** Richard Glover has been this country’s documenter of family life and the perils and triumphs of raising kids (and grandkids). So who better to cast a probing but humourous eye over the army of experts – magazine columnists, authors, nurses, priests and government agencies – who berated generations of Australian parents and shaped their children? As Richard discovered, most of the experts were very certain about their own rules. Any deviation would produce a dire result: you’d ruin a child. Yet, over time, the advice kept changing. Each generation was told that the last generation had it all wrong. If there’s once consolation, Richard suggests, it’s this: When relatives, and other critics, tell young parents that they are ‘doing it all wrong’, and that different (usually stricter) methods would make everything go smoothly, the experience of Australian parents over time is wonderfully reassuring. Parenting is tough, however you do it, and the outcome, however you get there, is usually a perfectly fine human. This is a book full of original research, nostaligia, hilarity and horror. As Richard takes us through the decades of sometimes absurd, alarming, contradictory and often downright cruel advice, he puts it into perspective with humour, and kindly offers 20 positive tips of his own. Not ony that, he shows us how the best intentions from some truly remarkable people can get derailed into rigid doctrines that really do threaten to ruin a child, if not their parent. ‘Ridiculously funny and breathtakingly profound, this book is the present every new parent needs’ **Rebecca Sparrow.** ‘This brilliantly written, forensically researched, laugh-out-loud lampooning of parenting manuals should be a mandatory gift in every maternity ward’ **Kathy Lette.** ‘Raising kids has always been confusing and hard, and Richard Glover’s exploration of advice for parents over the last century is fascinating and sometimes devastating to read. I especially love his top 20 tips for parents today – full of compassion and common sense’ **Maggie Dent.** ‘Richard Glover gets parenting right in this book. You can trust me. I’m an expert!’ **Justin Coulson.** ![Book cover of How to Ruin a Child by Richard Glover](https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/How-to-Ruin-a-Child_cover-670x1024.webp) About the author ![Smiling older man seated in front of ornate bookcase](https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Richard-Glover-photo-by-Joy-M-Lai-State-Library-of-NSW-768x512.webp) *Richard at the NSW State Library, where he partly reseearched 'How to Ruin a Child'. | Photo: Joy M Lai, State Library of NSW* **Richard Glover** Richard Glover has written many bestselling books, including *The Land Before Avocado*, *Best Wishes, Love Clancy, Flesh Wounds* and *George Clooney’s Haircut and Other Cries for Help*. Just as his acclaimed *The Land Before Avocado* looked frankly and amusingly at the way Australia used to be – and how far we have come – *How to Ruin a Child* looks frankly and amusingly at how we used to parent – and wonders whether we have come very far at all. This is Richard’s first book since leaving radio broadcasting, following 26 years of presenting the *Drive* show on ABC Radio in Sydney. He is still writing his weekly column for the *Sydney Morning Herald*. About the host **Prue has produced and presented ABC local radio programs across Australia and news programs syndicated to the Asia-Pacific.** She is the Editor for ABC Ballarat and Southwest Victoria, overseeing the development of broadcast and digital content for two regional Victorian bureaus. She believes in the power of conversations to bring people together on important issues, and the value of local news and radio to shine a light on the diversity of regional living. **$11 per person plus booking fees, also includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events.** Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email [library@ballaratmi.org.au](mailto:library@ballaratmi.org.au) or phone (03) 5331 3042 [Get Tickets](https://events.humanitix.com/richard-glover-bmi) This event takes place on Wadawurrung Country. Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute acknowledges the Wadawurrung People of the Kulin Nation as the first inhabitants and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we work, learn and create. *Always Was, Always Will Be, Aboriginal Land.*