Big thanks to the Harrison Library Staff for the reading suggestions that are sure to make us laugh through our tears!
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Parenting is hard. It’s serious business. If you let up for a moment, your kids can smell it, and suddenly you’ve just spent way too much money on plastic toys and ice cream. You have to keep a straight face at all times, no matter how funny the stuff they do is. They have to learn that putting shaving cream all over the toilet seats during a dinner party is wrong, and that using permanent marker to draw their favorite cartoons on your bedroom walls is immature.
Parenting is important!
But sometimes you just have to laugh. Here are six books to help you get over your kids’ latest adventures and accidents.
Jim Gaffigan, a stand-up comedian, didn’t think he would ever have kids. He had five. This is not a book about dieting, but a book about surviving life with his five angelic-faced hooligans. In a letter to his children, he addresses the question of why he wrote the book: “Well, since you’ve come into my life, you’ve been a constant source of entertainment while simultaneously driving me insane.” As a parent, I can only agree.
Go the F**k to Sleep, by Adam Mansbach
This is a children’s bedtime book that is not meant for children, but a genius parody of the endless children’s books that we have to read at bedtime…and what we wish we could really say, in rhyme. If possibly, try to get a copy of the audio version so you can have Samuel L. Jackson, who is a master of sarcasm, read the book aloud to you as you read along, page by page, so you can have the full bedtime experience.
Warning: lots of inappropriate language.
Lots!
YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BUY IT!!! Click here to request Interlibrary Loan from your Library (ILL)
Miss Manners for parents of small babies…Miss Bad Manners, that is. This book is a satirical sendup on how we act around our kids, the (terrible) advice we give each other about our kids, and the attitude of noble self-sacrifice that pervades most parenting books. “Lots of books teach you how to change diapers,” promises the book, “but this is the first book that will help you trick your spouse into doing it.”
Spending the Holidays with People I Want to Punch in the Throat, by Jen Mann
Jenn Mann is an amazing blogger who always has something hilarious to say about parenting, living in suburbia, and freelancing for a living. Here, she zooms in on the holidays, which we should all be planning on how to survive. No Elf on the Shelf is safe from her witty humor. You can also try reading her essays in funny books collecting lots of funny parents: I Just Want to Pee Alone, by Some Kick Ass Mom Bloggers, and But Did you Die? Setting the Parenting Bar Low, by A Bunch of Know It Alls (both of which are part of the same series!).
Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things that Happened, by Allie Brosh
Allie Brosh comes at the parent-child conflict from the other side of the equation, telling hilarious tales about her own childhood, drawn in a childlike art style that takes the reader all the way back to their own childhoods. She also covers being a dog-mom and dealing with some serious bouts of mental illness—all while making you laugh.
Reasons My Kid Is Crying, by Greg Pembroke
The author started with posting pictures of his child mid-tantrum after becoming a part-time stay-at-home dad. Then other people started sending in their pictures to be posted on his blog. “Like tiny Bond Villains with very small and insanely specific goals, toddlers have great expectations for what life will bring on any given day,” says the book. Some reasons for crying: HE’S NOT ALLOWED TO PICK UP DOG POOP. IT WASN’T RAINING INSIDE. WE GAVE HIM DELICIOUS PUDDING.
YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BUY IT!!! Click here to request Interlibrary Loan from your Library (ILL)
Hopefully, after a good belly laugh or two, you will be able to return to the serious, serious business of raising children to be academic overachievers, Olympic-level athletes, and people of such character that they’re up for the Nobel Peace Prize by the time they’re thirteen. But before then, take a moment to enjoy just how goofy they really are.
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