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A review by laila4343
All Joy and No Fun: The Paradox of Modern Parenthood by Jennifer Senior
5.0
A beautifully written, well-researched examination of modern parenthood. I can not recommend this book warmly enough to parents with kids still in the house. Would that all nonfiction were as fast-paced and meaningful as this!
There are so many things here that I want to remember in my life as a mother. My child is a toddler, and it's so hard to keep in mind that this intense, hands-on-all-the-time phase of parenting will be over before I know it. Senior writes of the 'experiencing self' vs the 'remembering self', and this notion is so freeing, liberating me from my constant parental guilt, when all in the world I want is for my child to go to sleep so I can have an hour of time to myself. My experiencing self is not having fun all day long - there are exquisitely beautiful, joyful moments, but there is also drudgery and boredom too. But my remembering self will look back upon these years with the utmost fondness, glossing over the tantrums and the messes, and glowingly focus on the constant hugs and kisses and "I love you, Mama" and fingerpainting and Lego-building and kicking a ball in the backyard. A great idea to keep in the back of my mind when I think I might go insane.
Anyway, I wish I could tell Jennifer Senior THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart - for making me feel less crazy and much less isolated.
There are so many things here that I want to remember in my life as a mother. My child is a toddler, and it's so hard to keep in mind that this intense, hands-on-all-the-time phase of parenting will be over before I know it. Senior writes of the 'experiencing self' vs the 'remembering self', and this notion is so freeing, liberating me from my constant parental guilt, when all in the world I want is for my child to go to sleep so I can have an hour of time to myself. My experiencing self is not having fun all day long - there are exquisitely beautiful, joyful moments, but there is also drudgery and boredom too. But my remembering self will look back upon these years with the utmost fondness, glossing over the tantrums and the messes, and glowingly focus on the constant hugs and kisses and "I love you, Mama" and fingerpainting and Lego-building and kicking a ball in the backyard. A great idea to keep in the back of my mind when I think I might go insane.
Anyway, I wish I could tell Jennifer Senior THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart - for making me feel less crazy and much less isolated.