Act Natural audiobook

A funny way to remind yourself that you probably aren't going to mess your kids up too badly

Warning: do not read this book in public unless you are fully prepared to explain why you are giggling, snorting, and choking on your lunch. I laughed so much that my kids started asking why I was laughing. But you can't explain to a six year old why it's funny that the author's daughter once woke her up to tell her she could fold a plastic bag. And, while some of the research does repeat itself in various chapters, you don't really mind. Because the author is quoting Bill Bryson, one of the most hilarious nonfiction writers of our time. Well worth almost 300 pages on the history of parenting.

I have no idea if one has to have children to find this entertaining, but holy moly did I like it. Her footnotes were as interesting as the book itself. I wish the chapter on children's literature were a stand-alone. It was so good and interesting.Also, if you're stressed as a parent, it's good to know things have been weirder and easier and harder, etc. I need this same book written about working adults just to give me perspective on that, too.

Good book on the history of parenting and childhood. It strikes a nice balance between academic and conversational or amusing.

Very funny. I laughed out loud many times. And a nice reminder that really none of us know what the hell we are doing.

For the literary parent who geeks out over historic texts.

This is such a comprehensive (long!) book about the history of parenting that I could imagine it would seem like a snooze fest at first glance. Wrong! Traig's voice, humor and humility permeates the book and turns what could be a textbook into a great read. I highlighted SO much as I read, comforted by the main theme, "The history of parenting is, in large part, a history of trying to get out of it." Some winners:*"The problem, of course, is that you’re always starting from zero. Children have not been given a copy of the social contract. They don’t know that we’ve all agreed that a sock is not a Kleenex, and more dangerously, that the phone charger is not a current-conducting bendy straw. Keeping them from killing themselves or anyone else is an endless chore, and to add manners, literacy, a modicum of self-control, and basic human decency to the mix seems like an impossible task."*"The disciplinary methods used to instill the desirable behavior are enormously variable, too. Over the centuries, parents have flogged their children and refused to touch them entirely; starved and force-fed them; sent them to bed and kept them up; locked them in and locked them out. I would be jailed for disciplining my children with methods that were considered normal less than a century ago, and the punishments we use now would look to seventeenth-century parents like rewards."*This - my favorite of the entire book:"And even if I did not know, when my dearest dreams became manifest, that there’d be so much laundry, I can’t help but be grateful for a husband and family I did not know I’d get to have, for the mix of nature, nurture, luck, and laziness that let millennia of ancestors survive so we could be here now. I’ll stay up just long enough to appreciate it, before my gratitude mutates into the grievances and worries that preoccupied me through the day. And then I’ll fall back asleep to the thought that things will probably work out just fine, as things tend to do."

Hilarious and horrifying look at history of parenting. So much fascinating information and Traig has really funny asides throughout. Very sweet afterword to tie it all together.

Pretty awesome read. This really a is a good history of parenting, even though it is skewed towards the weird or horrifying stuff. It gives a good perspective on any sort of "parenting manual" you might ever come across, and it's entertaining as hell. I enjoyed reading this a lot.

Imagine Mary Roach* writing a book about the history of parenting. Jennifer Traig is that good, and that funny. Laugh-out-loud, reading-parts-out-loud-to-your-husband-while-he's-trying-to-watch-Stranger-Things funny. You don't have to be a parent to thoroughly enjoy this book -- but if you do happen to be one, it will make you feel like Parent of the Year on just about every single page. Traig trains a gimlet eye not only on the parents of the past, but also on herself and her husband. I don't think the book would have worked as well as it does if Traig hadn't been utterly unafraid to admit to her own parenting foibles, and this fearlessness made me want to stand up and cheer for her and for myself. *As with Roach, do not under any circumstances imagine that you can skip the footnotes.

What Bill Bryson did for the home, Jennifer Traig has achieved for the history of parenting. Often really, really funny, Act Natural is always interesting. I particularly enjoyed the chapters on children's literature, discipline and sibling rivalry. Traig reminds us that "priorities and methods change, but the big, big stuff stays the same, and the species continues on, another morning and another evening, and back to bed we go".

Not what I expected but educational and quite funny. Traig investigated parenting throughout history and uncovered some humorous, surprising and unnerving information. She walks us through the many changes from pre-historic parents to the present day. If you thought the Grimm brotherstales were horrific you may be surprised that American Puritans were equally skilled at providing nightmarish literature. Ultimately, will make most parents feel they are doing a pretty good job.

Oof, what a journey. It’s taken me four years of stops and starts to read this—mostly because I have small children, which I think the author would understand. But also because I’m tender-hearted and some of the parenting f*#%ups in this book spiraled me into dark, sad places. HOWEVER, Traig’s sharp intelligence, self-deprecation, practical voice, and dry wit kept me coming back. AND the afterword was absolutely beautiful. I told my husband the other day that if I have a religion, my faith centers around books. Countless times, the books I’ve put down come back to me exactly when I need them in my life. It’s happened too often to be coincidence. This book was no different and I’m so grateful.

I'm bereft because the book ended too soon for my taste. It was a wonderful funny and illuminating take on parenting and developmental milestones through the ages. Each chapter explores a different topic: sibling rivalry, discipline, sleep, eating, and my favorite chapter on the birth of children literature and picture books.