As a military wife, I’ve gone several weeks in a row crying myself to sleep at night (typically 3-4 months into one of my husband’s deployments), overwhelmed by the burden of being both parents to my four children and exhausted from days full of feeling like all I did was nag or criticize them, afraid that their memories of me would consist entirely of me scolding them. Whenever I found myself in one of these funks, my friends who had all suffered through the same situation would come to my rescue with their own stories and humorous perspectives on my tales of woe. The best remedy for self-pity is to laugh at yourself or the situation and my friends helped me do that a lot. That’s why the first thing I do when I feel myself losing my temper over something is to pick up the phone and call my best friend who will immediately side with me, justify my anger, and then point out all the ways I’m being ridiculous and why I should get over it.
Science of Parenthood is that best friend for anyone who has children. Written by two moms, based on their own parenting experiences, the book is chock full of humorous insights on every aspect of parenting from pregnancy through the teen years.
The authors are not actual scientists but use science metaphorically to cover the complexities of children and raising them. The book is broken down into sections on biology, chemistry, physics, and math but unlike traditional textbooks, Science of Parenthood is full of cartoons, infographics, hilarious decision-making flowcharts, and funny insights that will have you laughing out loud from the first page to the acknowledgments at the end of the book.
In the words of the authors:
“The book lives in the chasm that exists between our collective hopes and dreams and expectations of what parenting will be like … and the brutal, slap-you-upside-the-head reality of what parenting actually is.”
I honestly don’t have a “favorite” part of the book because I laughed from start to finish. I did find the table breaking down the catalysts (actions taken by dad) to increase the likelihood of intimacy unexpected and particularly funny, especially since the gauge depicting the likelihood ranged from granny-style briefs to barely-there thong. I also had fun categorizing myself and all the moms I know by the book’s maternal classification system.
This is the perfect book to keep on your nightstand so that at the end of a long day, you can open it to any random page and have your mood instantly lightened.
It’s also a great gift idea for your friends who have kids, especially your girlfriends so they have a go-to resource when you aren’t available to help them through a parenting crisis.
Where can readers find Science of Parenthood?
Science of Parenthood is available on Amazon right now. You can also find it in bookstores.
And you can always find Science of Parenthood on Facebook (www.facebook.com/scienceofparenthood), Twitter (www.twitter.com/sciofparenthood), Pinterest (www.pinterest/sciofparenthood) and Instagram (www.Instagram.com/scienceofparenthood).
About The Authors
Norine is the primary writer for Science of Parenthood, the blog, and Science of Parenthood, the book. A longtime freelance magazine writer, Norine’s articles have appeared in just about every women’s magazine you can buy at supermarket checkout as well as on The Huffington Post, Parenting.com, iVillage, Lifescript and Scary Mommy websites. Norine is the co-author of You Know He’s a Keeper…You Know He’s a Loser: Happy Endings and Horror Stories from Real Life Relationships (Perigee), Food Cures(Reader’s Digest) and a contributor to several humor anthologies, including Have Milk, Will Travel: Adventures in Breastfeeding (Demeter Press). She lives with her husband and 9-year-old son in Orlando.
The daughter of famed New Yorker cartoonist Jack Ziegler, Jessica is Science of Parenthood’s co-creator, illustrator, web designer and contributing writer. In her “off hours,” Jessica is the director of social web design for VestorLogic and the writer/illustrator of StoryTots, a series of customizable children’s books. Her writing and illustration have been published on The Huffington Post, Vegas.com, InThePowderRoom.com and in Las Vegas Life and Las Vegas Weekly. Jessica was named a 2014 Humor Voice of the Year by BlogHer/SheKnows Media. She lives with her husband and 11-year-old son in Denver.
Together Jessica and Norine published The Big Book of Parenting Tweets and The Bigger Book of Parenting Tweets earlier in 2015.
If you would like Norine and Jessica to visit your book group, contact Norine at norine@scienceofparenthood.