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    The Kids Will Be Fine: Guilt-Free Motherhood for Thoroughly Modern Women
    The Kids Will Be Fine: Guilt-Free Motherhood for Thoroughly Modern Women
    The Kids Will Be Fine: Guilt-Free Motherhood for Thoroughly Modern Women
    Ebook211 pages1 hour

    The Kids Will Be Fine: Guilt-Free Motherhood for Thoroughly Modern Women

    By Daisy Waugh

    3/5

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    About this ebook

    A bracing, hilarious manifesto for motherhood as it ought to be: spontaneous, loving, and just a little bit selfish

    Pre-chewing toddler food. Flash cards for two-year-olds. Endless hours of school gatherings to sit through in smiling silence. How did motherhood—which even under the best circumstances comes with a million small costs and compromises—become a venue for female martyrdom, verging on a sort of socially approved mass masochism? How did the great natural force of maternal love get channeled into a simpering, slavish adherence to an inflexible social norm, a repressive sentimentality festooned with hideous pastel baby accessories? How did the bar to good motherhood get set so high that it's impossible for modern mothers not to feel like they're failing?
    It doesn't have to be this way—and Daisy Waugh is here to tell us how to opt out of the masochism cycle. Part feminist manifesto, part hilarious rant, The Kids Will Be Fine asks modern mothers to stop confusing love with subjugation. This is a book for moms everywhere who are fed up with the constant stream of unsolicited, impractical, guilt-inducing advice directed their way; for moms who have always secretly suspected that children would turn out okay even without handmade organic snacks or protective toddler headgear. With biting wit and lancing observations, Waugh gives women permission to slough off the judgments, order in some pizza, and remember that motherhood is also about the mother.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Publishers
    Release dateApr 29, 2014
    ISBN9781627790130
    The Kids Will Be Fine: Guilt-Free Motherhood for Thoroughly Modern Women
    Author

    Daisy Waugh

    Daisy Waugh is a journalist and travel writer. She has worked as an agony aunt and as a restaurant critic. She was a teacher at a girl’s school in Northern Kenya and has also written a weekly column from Los Angeles about her attempts to become a Hollywood scriptwriter. Daisy and her family of five live in London.

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    Reviews for The Kids Will Be Fine

    3/5

    9 ratings12 reviews

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    • 5/5
      I could have written this book, minus a couple minor things that I disagreed with. Holy cow, a great advice book on how to parent and not lose your mind. A great read for any parent.
    • 1/5
      Well, I wanted to like this book. As the mom of a newish baby, one of the things I wasn't prepared for was the guilt. I was hoping "The Kids WIll Be Fine" would make me laugh and calm some of my fears and worries. It read more like a rant with sometimes just a scant page devoted to a chapter. Could be that as an American, I just didn't get her British humor. I would love it if I had more of Waugh's laissez-faire approach to parenting as it would help be be more guilt-free. Unfortunately, her book doesn't tell me how.
    • 4/5
      Oh, what a refreshing change from the frequently maudlin FB posts I am constantly seeing about the thrills of breastfeeding, the charms of baby barf in one's hair and snot on one's shoulder, and how it is ALL WORTH IT for this precious bundle of joy! I am a mother myself, but the self-inflicted martyrdom of so many young mothers is becoming Just. Too. Much. Daisy Waugh's new book is not intended to be a baby guide; it is intended to make the reader laugh, and it does. Waugh has a tee-tiny scalpel at the end of her pen, and she wields it with grace and skill (and sometimes a little ruthlessness), pricking holes in such sentimental tropes as the Selfless Mother (something that drives me mad). We have children because we WANT to have children. Not because we had to! Not to make the world a better place! Admittedly few of us were prepared for the reality, but that doesn't make us selfless martyrs.All the best chapters, I regret to say, are in the first two-thirds of the book. Waugh does get a little over the top at times (as when she suggests that, since Mom is not likely to be too keen on sex for a while, what's the big deal about Daddy getting it elsewhere?) But overall, this is a book I would certainly offer a young mother in preference to the nauseatingly sentimental (and sometimes, borderline sadistic) books that are currently out there. Well done, Daisy Waugh. I'm sure YOUR kids, at least, will be fine.
    • 3/5
      Overall a quick and enjoyable book, and a refreshing break from other mommy memoirs since it unapologetically celebrates moms as normal human beings who are capable of experience irritation, boredom, and occasional dissatisfaction without becoming lesser parents. That said, it seemed to dance back and forth between advocating that mothers judge each other less and actively judging other mothers. It fits solidly into advice-not-advice genre of parenting books, but with it's own individual twists.
    • 3/5
      I found this to be an easy and enjoyable read. Though the Author and I differ on a few views on motherhood and parenting, I still found the book to be an interesting and humorous look at what it's like to be a "modern parent" in an often overly concerned, overly commercial, and overly consumerist culture.
    • 2/5
      Not impressed. Perhaps it was just a matter of missed expectations, but I was "expecting" to be highly amused. I wasn't. But that's what makes the world go 'round...someone else coming from a different place in life might just think it's the best thing ever.
    • 3/5
      I expected to love this book, but I just didn't. I'm down the basic tenents: guilt-free motherhood, the basic okayness of kids these days, throw in a snarky Brit and I thought it would be a home run. But honestly? I found Waugh to be just as judgmental as the women she's criticizing, and not especially funny about it. Meh.
    • 5/5
      In case you hadn't heard, being a mom is hard. I mean, HARD. For those of you without kids, you LITERALLY have NO IDEA how HARD. You may think you can imagine - but you're wrong. Only once you become a parent can you truly know what it mean to love something that is seemingly hell-bent on running you past the point of exhaustion 24 hours, 7 days a week. Now, part of this is because, as a single person unencumbered by a child, you can't REALLY imagine this kind of commitment to another - even if you have a dog or cat that you really, really, love - just no. If you are one of those people reading my review, don't feel antagonized by my commentary - rather, relish the ability to do as you please when you please while you still can. Just as being a parent is special and magical, being a single person, responsible only for your own survival, is priceless. Soak it in. Live it up. Anyways, the other reason people (read also: first time moms) don't know how HARD it is - is because no one really talks about or acknowledges their own struggles with being a new parent. For some women, motherhood is almost on par with a religious calling - something that requires willing self-sacrifice and devotion. For others, those like myself, it is something of a chore - and I can admit that I struggle with it daily. Just admitting that being a mother is hard work has caused a twinge of guilt in me - and I feel compelled to add in a louder voice - I STILL LOVE MY BABY. At least, no less than a woman who pretends that all this vomit, poop, and screaming is really her cup of tea.Even if YOU don't necessarily know how hard it is to be a parent, Daisy Waugh does. She isn't afraid to admit her shortcomings and laugh at her own struggles. She thinks the myth surrounding the modern martyrdom of good mothers is ridiculous. Rather, she encourages women to allow themselves some slack in indulging in some selfish behavior. You don't have to steam your own organic vegetables and breastfeed your child through puberty to be a good mother - despite what some of your Facebook friends might post. Waugh gives mothers the permission to be seen as women again - to succumb to human impulses and take some shortcuts every once in a while. The chapters were extremely short - bite-sized snippets that are perfect for moms looking to sneak in some reading inbetween the frequent diaper changes and temper tantrums. I don't necessarily advocate all of her advice and opinions - but I LOVE her refreshing and permissive attitude. Moms carry around a lot of inexplicable internal guilt without their husbands, friends and media sources chiming in with advice and statistics. The kids WILL be fine, despite what your adversaries may say. This book is a much-needed 'atta girl to women struggle, women who need to hear that others have trouble too. Thanks to LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program for an advanced copy of this book. It was just what the doctor ordered.
    • 4/5
      It's nice to have someone to talk to about perplexities of having children and doing this through a book can be good. This book makes a good introduction and support to becoming a parent, although without much of the specific or classic advice you might or might not be looking for. Beginning with pregnancy, author Daisy Waugh gently guides you, not *through* this new experience, but mostly *around* this well-meant meddling into your affairs. You do not need to buy every gadget ever conceived for newborns, for example. Skipping along through *chapters,?* only averaging a page or two, she deals with the usual problems that come up with kids in a mostly chronological order, taking problems as they come and your child gets older. The theme of the book is that life goes on and you will very likely do just fine raising your child with a much less frantic or panic approach. I think her ideas come across as very practical most of the time. My only complaint is her use of the F-word that seems to get used more and more frequently in the last half of the book. I really hate that word. Otherwise, it's relaxing, funny, entertaining, and gives good thoughts to ponder. The book is barely 214 pages. Enjoy and be assured you are doing a fine job with your kids.
    • 1/5
      This is, without a doubt, one of the worst books I have had the misfortune to pick up. I was excited to receive this book because I anticipated a light-hearted romp through motherhood with anecdotes showing that whatever a well-intentioned mother inflicted upon her child, the child was likely to turn out just fine. What I sadly found was a judgmental, poorly written book portraying a very one-sided approach to mothering. Apparently, the kids will be just fine IF you are parenting the way the Waugh chooses to parent.If, God forbid, you are a mother who chooses a different path - perhaps choosing natural childbirth, organic foods, or breast-feeding - there is no doubt in Waugh's mind that your child will be parented by an imbecile. I have to assume that means the child is doomed as well.I was hoping for a book that did not attack any mother doing her very best with her child. What I got was more of the same - an attack on mothers who choose to parent differently than the author. I was appalled by the book in parts. Quoting her OB as saying that a mother can drink, do drugs, whatever she wants in the first trimester and the baby will be fine! This book is not only insulting - I believe it is dangerous.I would not recommend this book to anyone. I am only giving it a half star instead of a star so that no one will think I forgot to rank it.
    • 4/5
      I just received this book and started reading it. It's too early to review now, but it has already won me over by liberal use of terms like "bullsh*t" and "piss," the assertion--one that I have always agreed with--that in this modern age there is no reason in the world to deny painkillers to women in labor, and the section, "Don't Call Me Mom," which lights exactly on my number-one pet peeve as a mother. And I quote:"There are only three people [one, in my case] in the world who can call me Mom, and they know who they are. To anyone else: call me ugly, for all I care. Call me anything at all. Just don't call me Mom. I am not your mom. If I were, you'd have better manners."Yes, yes, dear God, yes.
    • 5/5
      This is a funny, tongue in cheek look at what we espouse to be motherhood in today’s media frenzied era. The author note all the hype put out about motherhood, and explains her simple, understated views on the same. The book is filled with wisdom and a hearty dose of humor as she debunks many of the myths the media perpetuates. From her assertion that we have children because we want to have children, not because of some media imposed sense of selflessness to her to her comments that we can and should feed the children what we want to and can and not the organic food the media and others insist we should, this book addresses most of the common ideas and philosophies put forth about motherhood today. The book covers all the stages of motherhood: pregnancy, baby care, child care, school, and charm school, while debunking most of what the uninitiated continue to hold near and dear. I could easily see this mother having, raising and loving her children in her own way, despite what others think or say. Nevertheless, in the process of all this, a mother who knows how to other, raise and love her children comes through loud and clear. I found her ideas refreshing and insightful in many ways. The soon-to-be-mother as well as the seasoned mother and older grandmother could easily agree with the author as they read along with her somewhat pristine but definitely wholesome and experienced ideas. In today’s day and climate, I wish there were more books that speak to the truth in all matters as this one does available for reading. I highly recommend this one, for sheer enjoyment if not for the nuggets of wisdom the author provides. I received this from Library Thing to read and review.

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    The Kids Will Be Fine - Daisy Waugh

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