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1 Beaverton Humor- Narrative

Mommy Knows Worst: Highlights from the Golden Age of Bad Parenting Advice

by James Lileks

Mommy Knows Worst: Highlights from the Golden Age of Bad Parenting Advice Cover

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

Don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater!

Ahhhh, the 1940s and ’50s . . . a time when parents everywhere strove for the American Dream—manicured lawns, a shiny car in the driveway, and perfect children playing in the yard. Raising kids was simpler back then, or was it?

In Mommy Knows Worst, you’ll be treated to a visual feast of past parenting neuroses—as well as insight into why concerned moms and dads were driven to buy “delicious” baby laxatives, douse their baby in oil and put him in the sun, and strap Junior into a car seat that bore a strange resemblance to scrap metal. If you’re a baby boomer who lived through this childhood torture, well, we’re sorry. But if humor really is the best medicine (rather than bicarbonate of curd and mustard plaster, as was previously recommended for childhood ailments), then Mommy Knows Worst is cheaper than therapy.

Photographs, advertisements, magazine articles, and government-issue parenting guides, which seemed so helpful in their day, are given a whole new slant by the master of the genre, James Lileks. Mommy Knows Worst is a rollicking tribute to old-fashioned parenting that gives us a whole new reason not to forget our past—it’s hilarious!

Synopsis:

From satirist Lileks comes a hilarious collection of questionable childcare tips from a bygone era.

About the Author

James Lileks is a columnist for the Star-Tribune in Minneapolis. He is the author of The Gallery of Regrettable Food and Interior Desecrations. His website, lileks.com, is among the most popular humor sites on the Internet.

What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 1 comment:
Gypsi, August 4, 2007 (view all comments by Gypsi)
I love James Lileks. He is snarky, sarcastic and adorable and Mommy Knows Worst is no exception. It is filled with vintage clips of parenting advice coupled with his quips about it. Side-splittingly funny, sometimes painfully so. My husband and I both love this man, and read his blog regularly. He's like Garrison Keiler, just more sardonic. Mommy Knows Worst is a gem, an absolute gem!
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(3 of 7 readers found this comment helpful)

Product Details

ISBN:
9781400082285
Subtitle:
Highlights from the Golden Age of Bad Parenting Advice
Author:
Lileks, James
Publisher:
Three Rivers Press (CA)
Subject:
General
Subject:
Parenting
Subject:
Topic - Family
Subject:
Parenting - General
Publication Date:
October 2005
Binding:
Paperback
Language:
English
Illustrations:
Y
Pages:
176
Dimensions:
8.20x7.56x.42 in. .99 lbs.

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