Why Have Kids?: A New Mom Explores the Truth About Parenting and Happiness
A provocative and intimate exploration of modern parenthood by “a gutsy young third wave feminist” – The New York Times If parenting is making Americans unhappy, if it’s impossible to “have it all,” if people don’t have the economic, social, or political structures needed to support parenting,...
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A provocative and intimate exploration of modern parenthood by “a gutsy young third wave feminist” – The New York Times If parenting is making Americans unhappy, if it’s impossible to “have it all,” if people don’t have the economic, social, or political structures needed to support parenting, then why do it? And why are anxious new parents flocking to every Tiger Mother and Bébé-raiser for advice on how to raise kids? In Why Have Kids?, Valenti explores these controversial questions through on-the-ground reporting, startling new research, and her own unique experiences as a mom. She moves beyond the black and white “mommy wars” over natural parenting, discipline, and work-life balance to explore a more nuanced reality: one filled with ambivalence, joy, guilt, and exhaustion. A must read for parents as well as those considering starting a family, Why Have Kids? is an explosive addition to the conversation about modern parenthood.
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Format: hardcover
ISBN:
9780547892610 (0547892616)
ASIN: 547892616
Publish date: September 4th 2012
Publisher: New Harvest
Pages no: 208
Edition language: English
Category:
Non Fiction,
Autobiography,
Memoir,
Adult,
Feminism,
Culture,
Parenting,
Family,
Politics,
Sociology,
Womens
It’s good that more women are desirous of, and able to, choose long-term birth control. Kids are interesting, but I can’t imagine anyone putting themselves through it unless they really want to. Valenti is writing from a similar place, although she had only recently become a mother when she wrote it...
I've been meaning to pick this up for years and I'm glad I finally did. Curiously, it doesn't answer its titular question. I was expecting to be convinced that having kids is an important and meaningful undertaking. Instead, Valenti brings to light all the parenting discussions we should be having b...
Recommended for anyone even remotely interested in parenting.
The beginning of this book really made me angry, but I'm glad I kept going. The first two chapters are unreasonably harsh on mothers, by saying that taking care of our bodies during pregnancy and birth, and fighting to provide breastmilk for our babies is part of "the man" beating us down. Maybe it'...
In the late 1970s, "Dear Abby" conducted a nonscientific poll. She asked parents who read her column to write in answering yes or no to one question: "If you had it to do over again, would you have kids?" An astonishing 70 percent of respondents (and there were thousands) said NO.Author Jessica V...
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