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Long Days, Short Years: A Cultural History of Modern Parenting Andrew Bomback
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Long Days, Short Years: A Cultural History of Modern Parenting
Andrew Bomback
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 pastthe Cleavers, the Bradys, the Connersdidnt 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 Bombackphysician, writer, and father of three young childrenlooks at why it can be so much fun to be a parent but, at the same time, so frustrating and difficult to parent. Its 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. Spocks 1950s childcare biblein some years outsold only by the actual Bibleto 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.
176 pages, 1 black and white illustration
| Media | Books Hardcover Book (Book with hard spine and cover) |
| Released | August 9, 2022 |
| ISBN13 | 9780262047159 |
| Publishers | MIT Press Ltd |
| Pages | 176 |
| Dimensions | 141 × 211 × 24 mm · 317 g |
| Language | English |
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