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Long Days, Short Years

A Cultural History of Modern Parenting

Author Andrew Bomback
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Hardcover
$22.95 US
The MIT Press
On sale Aug 09, 2022 | 184 Pages | 9780262047159
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How parenting became a verb, from Dr. Spock and June Cleaver to baby whispering and free-range kids.

When did “parenting” become a verb? Why is it so hard to parent, and so rife with the possibility of failure? Sitcom families of the past—the Cleavers, the Bradys, the Conners—didn’t seem to lose any sleep about their parenting methods. Today, parents are likely to be up late, doomscrolling on parenting websites. In Long Days, Short Years, Andrew Bomback—physician, writer, and father of three young children—looks at why it can be so much fun to be a parent but, at the same time, so frustrating and difficult to parent. It’s not a “how to” book (although Bomback has read plenty of these) but a “how come” book, investigating the emergence of an immersive, all-in approach to raising children that has made parenting a competitive (and often not very enjoyable) sport. 
 
Drawing on parenting books, mommy blogs, and historical accounts of parental duties as well as novels, films, podcasts, television shows, and his own experiences as a parent, Bomback charts the cultural history of parenting as a skill to be mastered, from the laid-back Dr. Spock’s 1950s childcare bible—in some years outsold only by the actual Bible—to the more rigid training schedules of Babywise. Along the way, he considers the high costs of commercialized parenting (from the babymoon on), the pressure on mothers to have it all (and do it all), scripted parenting as laid out in How to Talk So Kids Will Listen, parenting during a pandemic, and much more. 
Author's Note xi
1 How Parent Became My Verb 1
2 How Parent Became Everyone's Verb 9
3 Playing the Role of Parent 25
4 For Sale 41
5 Maddened/Melted 51
6 We Are Here to Help (I) 69
7 We Are Here to Help (II) 83
8 Parents Strike Back 97
9 Precision Parenting 109
Epilogue: Parenting during a Pandemic 129
Acknowledgments 143
Notes 145
Index 157
Andrew Bomback is Associate Professor of Medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and the author of Doctor. His essays have appeared in the Atlantic, Los Angeles Review of Books, McSweeney’s, and elsewhere.
 
Andrew Bomback View titles by Andrew Bomback

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How parenting became a verb, from Dr. Spock and June Cleaver to baby whispering and free-range kids.

When did “parenting” become a verb? Why is it so hard to parent, and so rife with the possibility of failure? Sitcom families of the past—the Cleavers, the Bradys, the Conners—didn’t seem to lose any sleep about their parenting methods. Today, parents are likely to be up late, doomscrolling on parenting websites. In Long Days, Short Years, Andrew Bomback—physician, writer, and father of three young children—looks at why it can be so much fun to be a parent but, at the same time, so frustrating and difficult to parent. It’s not a “how to” book (although Bomback has read plenty of these) but a “how come” book, investigating the emergence of an immersive, all-in approach to raising children that has made parenting a competitive (and often not very enjoyable) sport. 
 
Drawing on parenting books, mommy blogs, and historical accounts of parental duties as well as novels, films, podcasts, television shows, and his own experiences as a parent, Bomback charts the cultural history of parenting as a skill to be mastered, from the laid-back Dr. Spock’s 1950s childcare bible—in some years outsold only by the actual Bible—to the more rigid training schedules of Babywise. Along the way, he considers the high costs of commercialized parenting (from the babymoon on), the pressure on mothers to have it all (and do it all), scripted parenting as laid out in How to Talk So Kids Will Listen, parenting during a pandemic, and much more. 

Table of Contents

Author's Note xi
1 How Parent Became My Verb 1
2 How Parent Became Everyone's Verb 9
3 Playing the Role of Parent 25
4 For Sale 41
5 Maddened/Melted 51
6 We Are Here to Help (I) 69
7 We Are Here to Help (II) 83
8 Parents Strike Back 97
9 Precision Parenting 109
Epilogue: Parenting during a Pandemic 129
Acknowledgments 143
Notes 145
Index 157

Author

Andrew Bomback is Associate Professor of Medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and the author of Doctor. His essays have appeared in the Atlantic, Los Angeles Review of Books, McSweeney’s, and elsewhere.
 
Andrew Bomback View titles by Andrew Bomback

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