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Mommy Knows Worst: Highlights from the Golden Age of Bad Parenting Advice
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!
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!
176 pages, Paperback
First published October 25, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 63 reviews
July 13, 2025
You can't make this stuff up. Another James Lilecks
retrospective on the parents raising the baby boom generation.
retrospective on the parents raising the baby boom generation.
April 15, 2007
A look back at products for babies and children from early 20th-century America through skeptical, modern-age lenses. These folks had their children's best interests at heart, but what they did to the poor tykes leaves 21st-century parents aghast. Done in the same style as The Gallery of Regrettable Food and Interior Desecrations. I have to say I was disappointed with this one. The book has a few classic moments, such as the magical baby-flinging car seat, but overall the material here was far weaker than in Lileks's previous satire of post-war Americana.
Even the section on laxatives let me down; he has a completely different—and far more hilarious—example of the 1950s obsession with juvenile regularity on his Web site: [http://www.lileks.com/comics/misc/ind...]. Perhaps the author, recently inducted to parenthood himself, was trying a little too hard to integrate his new hobby with his old one. Nevertheless, if you laughed yourself to near-asphyxiation reading The Gallery of Regrettable Food as I did, you'll find this one worth owning, as well, especially if you have a young child.
Even the section on laxatives let me down; he has a completely different—and far more hilarious—example of the 1950s obsession with juvenile regularity on his Web site: [http://www.lileks.com/comics/misc/ind...]. Perhaps the author, recently inducted to parenthood himself, was trying a little too hard to integrate his new hobby with his old one. Nevertheless, if you laughed yourself to near-asphyxiation reading The Gallery of Regrettable Food as I did, you'll find this one worth owning, as well, especially if you have a young child.
April 20, 2008
Seeing the old ads and articles was hilarious on its own. But the author tries too hard to make it funny and, in my opinion, is too cynical - even vulgar at times. I quickly learned to skip over his editorial remarks and just enjoy the bad advice on my own.
April 17, 2014
LOL funny! It's a miracle any of us baby boomers survived with the advice our parents' were given in raising us. A very fun read.
June 11, 2012
Old ads have always fascinated me. Ads promising help from "toilet tissue disease" or warning that "Halitosis Makes You Unpopular" are plastered all over my house. So when I say this collection promising 'Highlights from the Golden Age of Parenting Advice" I couldn't resist.
The book is packed with some great public service announcement style ads, parenting advice and a few home health ads. For the most part the ads and advice were only funny because they were dated, but the author seemed hell bent on making sure everyone knows just how ridiculous the ads and advice really were. He writes like someone commenting on photos in an email forward and tries too hard which ultimately makes him fail.
A black and white photo of a woman giving a baby an enema is accompanied by his text: "Any idea what's going on here? Why it's simple: The baby is being oiled to keep its joints limber and supple. [...] the [original] caption to this illustration which cautions that "the suppository should not be completely inserted." If Mother has to be told not to shove the entire brick of Ivory up Junior's hindquarter's constipation is the least of his problems." Meanwhile, a photo of a baby getting an enema is a) not really funny and b) not made more funny by someone intentionally misinterpreting it.
It's a worthwhile collection to flip through for the adverts and parenting pamphlets alone, but fellow readers are cautioned to skip the commentary.
The book is packed with some great public service announcement style ads, parenting advice and a few home health ads. For the most part the ads and advice were only funny because they were dated, but the author seemed hell bent on making sure everyone knows just how ridiculous the ads and advice really were. He writes like someone commenting on photos in an email forward and tries too hard which ultimately makes him fail.
A black and white photo of a woman giving a baby an enema is accompanied by his text: "Any idea what's going on here? Why it's simple: The baby is being oiled to keep its joints limber and supple. [...] the [original] caption to this illustration which cautions that "the suppository should not be completely inserted." If Mother has to be told not to shove the entire brick of Ivory up Junior's hindquarter's constipation is the least of his problems." Meanwhile, a photo of a baby getting an enema is a) not really funny and b) not made more funny by someone intentionally misinterpreting it.
It's a worthwhile collection to flip through for the adverts and parenting pamphlets alone, but fellow readers are cautioned to skip the commentary.
January 24, 2016
Bucking Bronco! Gym-Dandy’s Whirlwind! Mercurochrome!
From the author of the much-funnier Gallery of Regrettable Food comes this look back on the ridiculous baby and childhood trends from the ‘40s to mid-’60s that most Boomers and many Gen-Xers will recognize.
The pregnancy chapter emphasizes how newspaper replaced the once-ubiquitous boiling water, although “Boil everything!” gets its due, too.
Some of the ads will give parents the willies, such as the ones for unsecured car seats or for “Boggins’ open-air sleeping compartment,” a small playpen that sticks precariously out a window like a rickety AC unit.
Lileks for the most part refrains from gloating over what, given the science of the time, were considered sound practices but is quick to call out “Don’t interact with the baby” advice that goes against common sense. Every page is lovingly backgrounded with a sickeningly sweet pastel pattern.
By the way, “Sweet Judas on a stick!” is a much more interesting epithet than “OMG!”
From the author of the much-funnier Gallery of Regrettable Food comes this look back on the ridiculous baby and childhood trends from the ‘40s to mid-’60s that most Boomers and many Gen-Xers will recognize.
The pregnancy chapter emphasizes how newspaper replaced the once-ubiquitous boiling water, although “Boil everything!” gets its due, too.
Some of the ads will give parents the willies, such as the ones for unsecured car seats or for “Boggins’ open-air sleeping compartment,” a small playpen that sticks precariously out a window like a rickety AC unit.
Lileks for the most part refrains from gloating over what, given the science of the time, were considered sound practices but is quick to call out “Don’t interact with the baby” advice that goes against common sense. Every page is lovingly backgrounded with a sickeningly sweet pastel pattern.
By the way, “Sweet Judas on a stick!” is a much more interesting epithet than “OMG!”
February 27, 2011
Mommy Knows Worst / 1-4000-8228-5
I'm a long time fan of Lileks and his Institute of Official Cheer material. I loved "The Gallery of Regrettable Food" and "Interior Desecrations", and thoroughly enjoyed "Gastroanomalies". However, it's an old adage that it's difficult to be funny all of the time, and "Mommy Knows Worst" seems to be an example of this.
"Mommy Knows Worst" suffers, if from nothing else, from a problem of format and material. Whereas the pictures of food and furniture from Lileks' other books were colorful and instantly evocative (or "evacuative", for readers with sensitive stomachs!), the majority of the pictures in "Mommy" are black-and-white photos of child sketches, plastic nipple diagrams, and organizational photos of what, precisely, needs to be in the room before giving birth or milk feeding. This means that there are far fewer hoots of "Look at THIS!" (elicited by such things as a chicken leg with pearls and a garter on it for no apparent reason) from the reader and far more frowning at baby sketches and musing quietly on how even the most terrible shaders could still, apparently, find work. In other words, it's funny, but it's not the usual gasping-for-breath funny that Official Cheer usually elicits.
Along the same lines, the copy accompanying the pictures has a different timbre. Where the food recipes had upbeat, perky, and easily mockable instructions and exhortations ("You CAN cook with 7-Up!!"), the stilted monotone of "Into a pint of boiling water stir flaxseed, also known as linseed, until it forms a paste just thick enough to flow from a spoon," just isn't highly amusing in itself. Lileks dishes out the best mockery he can under the circumstances ("Is this good? Or bad? ... It's hard to say, since this book gives no indication what the poultice is for."), but it's just not the same. Even Lileks seems to realize this, as the commentary feels largely tired, flagging, and lacking the usual Lileks energy and verve.
"Mommy Knows Worst" is amusing and - properly enshrined on your coffee table - will elicit the occasional chuckle from family and friends. Just don't be surprised to find yourself turning back to the old "Gallery" for the laughs and guffaws that "Mommy" just can't quite supply.
~ Ana Mardoll
I'm a long time fan of Lileks and his Institute of Official Cheer material. I loved "The Gallery of Regrettable Food" and "Interior Desecrations", and thoroughly enjoyed "Gastroanomalies". However, it's an old adage that it's difficult to be funny all of the time, and "Mommy Knows Worst" seems to be an example of this.
"Mommy Knows Worst" suffers, if from nothing else, from a problem of format and material. Whereas the pictures of food and furniture from Lileks' other books were colorful and instantly evocative (or "evacuative", for readers with sensitive stomachs!), the majority of the pictures in "Mommy" are black-and-white photos of child sketches, plastic nipple diagrams, and organizational photos of what, precisely, needs to be in the room before giving birth or milk feeding. This means that there are far fewer hoots of "Look at THIS!" (elicited by such things as a chicken leg with pearls and a garter on it for no apparent reason) from the reader and far more frowning at baby sketches and musing quietly on how even the most terrible shaders could still, apparently, find work. In other words, it's funny, but it's not the usual gasping-for-breath funny that Official Cheer usually elicits.
Along the same lines, the copy accompanying the pictures has a different timbre. Where the food recipes had upbeat, perky, and easily mockable instructions and exhortations ("You CAN cook with 7-Up!!"), the stilted monotone of "Into a pint of boiling water stir flaxseed, also known as linseed, until it forms a paste just thick enough to flow from a spoon," just isn't highly amusing in itself. Lileks dishes out the best mockery he can under the circumstances ("Is this good? Or bad? ... It's hard to say, since this book gives no indication what the poultice is for."), but it's just not the same. Even Lileks seems to realize this, as the commentary feels largely tired, flagging, and lacking the usual Lileks energy and verve.
"Mommy Knows Worst" is amusing and - properly enshrined on your coffee table - will elicit the occasional chuckle from family and friends. Just don't be surprised to find yourself turning back to the old "Gallery" for the laughs and guffaws that "Mommy" just can't quite supply.
~ Ana Mardoll
June 6, 2009
Thought this would be a great little review of hints through the ages from parent books--but was just ads gtom a few books and magazines--repeated itself alot too! boring. the only part--which was very sad too was 3 pages--was a reprint about who mothers used meds to quiet their babies/kids, but also to kill them before WWII and that there was this house in Paris--where you could take your baby and for a few coins they tkes it and kill it for you--sick! When the police closed it down--they found cases of the medicine that sold and was recommended regularly back in the day--it had opium or or nasty crap in it! The lady that ran the place murdered over 100 plus babies. Not what I expected in this book again. The main thing was you were not to pick up the baby--leave it alone, or you would disturb its nervous system or grow or bones would bend. That was repeated--glad I got it used. The ads were not even cool ones either. not a keeper!! or a gift!!!
December 10, 2008
It's amazing to me some of the advice to mothers in this book. The idea that anyone thought that newspaper was an appropriate material to use to sanitize a birthing area, or to stick a crib in a convertible is crazy. The advice seems to come from anywhere between 1910 to the 1960s, and it is all bad. Of course, the author also pokes fun at today's methods of raising children--like how today's moms slather their kids in sunscreen like sunlight is evil (as opposed to the old advice to put your children out in the sun as much as possible, via a cage-like box hanging out of an apartment window if no yard is available) and strapping kids into carseats like they are being shot up in the Space Shuttle (in the "olden days," kids weren't strapped into anything except their potty chair). Most horrifying: the pictures accompanying this stuff. This book wasn't quite as hilarious as The Gallery of Regrettable Foods, but it will make you laugh.
Read
July 5, 2011Side-splitting funny, at least for one who was on the receiving end of the popular beliefs and mass marketing of the period. It seems that babies " boomed" in spite of the prevalent teaching of the child rearing techniques that were designed to make the child as manageable as possible while keeping one eye out for what the rest of middle class America doing so as not to appear radical or soft on subjects such as regular bowel movements or being a great father.
Of course the humor derives from the relative vantage point of our greater wisdom in such subjects these sixty to seventy years later. No one was laughing at the time. Despite the "given" of the inherent humor of our modern perspective James Lileks does a great job of transforming the peculiarly funny to the hilariously funny by his sarcastic translations of the actual text of the advertisement or instructional articles.
A quick and easy reading that will probably have you laughing out loud of you are between fifty and seventy.
Of course the humor derives from the relative vantage point of our greater wisdom in such subjects these sixty to seventy years later. No one was laughing at the time. Despite the "given" of the inherent humor of our modern perspective James Lileks does a great job of transforming the peculiarly funny to the hilariously funny by his sarcastic translations of the actual text of the advertisement or instructional articles.
A quick and easy reading that will probably have you laughing out loud of you are between fifty and seventy.
February 11, 2009
I generally LOVE Lileks...as in devour his books in one sitting, laughing almost to the point of incontinence as I do so. This one kind of let me down. Perhaps it is because I now know, first hand, the horrors of potting training. It just did not grab me the way the Gallery of Regrettable Foods and Interior Desecrations did.
It felt like a one note humor book this time...Ok, we get it. Mid twentieth century parents had an over reliance on laxatives, were way too interested in/controlling of their kids' poop habits and this was so wrong on so many levels. But it got a bit stale for me.
I will, as ever, actively seek out James Lilek's next offering. Maybe I'll be over the interior defecations by then and will have my sense of humor back.
It felt like a one note humor book this time...Ok, we get it. Mid twentieth century parents had an over reliance on laxatives, were way too interested in/controlling of their kids' poop habits and this was so wrong on so many levels. But it got a bit stale for me.
I will, as ever, actively seek out James Lilek's next offering. Maybe I'll be over the interior defecations by then and will have my sense of humor back.
December 22, 2008
Hard to tell which is more amazing, that the gems of lunatic advice - either "received wisdom" in the form of folk customs, or pseudoscientific weirdness from doctors and other professionals dispensing the current state of their art with total assurance.
As a family therapist, I enjoyed this book more than I would have if it hadn't focused on this area; that makes some of the content funnier, and reminded me poignantly of some of the dogma I learned in grad school, presented just as authoritatively by professors as some items in this book, only to be debunked and drastically changed - with equal certainty - a few years later.
This would be a great gift for someone who is about to become a parent... laughter is good medicine for reducing stress and pain during delivery.
As a family therapist, I enjoyed this book more than I would have if it hadn't focused on this area; that makes some of the content funnier, and reminded me poignantly of some of the dogma I learned in grad school, presented just as authoritatively by professors as some items in this book, only to be debunked and drastically changed - with equal certainty - a few years later.
This would be a great gift for someone who is about to become a parent... laughter is good medicine for reducing stress and pain during delivery.
January 12, 2019
Usually, James Lileks's books are hilarious, focusing on terrible food or clothing trends from yesteryear. When it comes to parenting, it teeters from ridiculous ideas that we can chuckle over to the absolutely horrifying. Lileks rightfully notes how dreadful (and, in places, abusive) some ideas were, but the humorous bubble is burst and a moralizing tone creeps in. In places, he slips into moralizing and outright disapproval. Although it's positioned as another humorous book, it's very uneven in this regard. I finished reading feeling bad for children long ago and parents who didn't know better (but not the deliberately abusive ones).
December 9, 2011
The Gallery of Regrettable Food was funny, but I thought this was even funnier. It also had me laughing aloud until I was in tears. There was a lot of really bad parenting advice given in the past. Well, I'm sure there is a lot of bad parenting advice being given in the present too. Anyway, if you want to laugh at how experts said kids were supposed to be raised in the first half of the 20th century America, this is a book for you. Of course, the author's searing wit makes it all more hilarious.
February 15, 2011
Oh. Wow. Some of this book is almost too frightening to be funny, and makes me wonder that my parents and grandparents survived childhood. The rigid schedules, strange contraptions for making toddlers hold still or correcting their sticking out ears are appalling. And the advice, like not holding or talking to your baby unless you HAVE to, because they'll end up being egomanics and serial killers . . . oh my goodness! Lileks takes the mickey out of these old ads, pamphlets, and books with his usual flair, though!
June 23, 2015
Let's be clear: the average parenting book from 2015 is going to look just as ludicrous to the citizens of 2085 as the excerpts in this book do today. Hopefully there will be the equivalent of a James Lileks around to compile the strangest bits into a book--or its future equivalent--for the enjoyment of reader-bots everywhere. Of the four Lileks books that I've read, this is probably my least favorite, but, honestly, it's like having a least favorite flavor of cheesecake. In the end it's still worth eating. I mean, reading. Drat! Now I'm hungry ...
March 29, 2009
Whether writing captions for photos featured in the "Gallery of Regrettable Food" or ranting at his blog, "The Bleat," James Lileks is absolutely hilarious (with an occasional tinge of crazy, which makes it that much more fun). He hits another home run with "Mommy Knows Worst," a collection of photographs and advertisements from decades past, which are often very funny on their own. Each entry is further enlivened by Lileks's snotty comments. Laugh-out-loud funny, and highly recommended.
July 8, 2012
Heelarious. This book of old,outdated and mostly dangerious advice/ads are brought together in another book by James Lileks.
Looking at some of the ads, like a whole series about spanking a child who doesn't want to drink something awful for constipation seems just beyond sound reason today.
James does his famous riffing on the ads and advice giving me quite a few laugh out loud moments.
I highly suggest reading this - or I'll strangle you with my giant monkey feet!!!!
Looking at some of the ads, like a whole series about spanking a child who doesn't want to drink something awful for constipation seems just beyond sound reason today.
James does his famous riffing on the ads and advice giving me quite a few laugh out loud moments.
I highly suggest reading this - or I'll strangle you with my giant monkey feet!!!!
December 28, 2018
Surprisingly funny!
This book is comprised of old-timey ads for crazy baby crap people used to buy, before they became aware of safety (haha)… followed by the author's sarcastic musings about how horrible the products, or ads, or pictures (or all three) were! It was just the right amount of snark, without trying too hard. I actually stopped reading the ads, and went directly to the commentary.
This book is comprised of old-timey ads for crazy baby crap people used to buy, before they became aware of safety (haha)… followed by the author's sarcastic musings about how horrible the products, or ads, or pictures (or all three) were! It was just the right amount of snark, without trying too hard. I actually stopped reading the ads, and went directly to the commentary.
September 24, 2007
James Lileks does a great job in finding marvelously bizzare stuff from past publications, but his commentary just isn't very funny, and a lot of the things he chose for inclusion in this book are really kind of a stretch ("Four beads on a wire to play with? Does the baby have FOUR ARMS? ha ha ha ha").
March 15, 2008
Lileks does a great job of finding hilarious parental advice artifacts from mid-20th century books and magazines, but I could totally do without his commentary. He's tries way too hard and he's just not that funny.
Plus, the book was absolutely rife with misspellings! "Heirborne," for example. No one caught that. On the same page, "device" was spelled "devise." Really bad.
Plus, the book was absolutely rife with misspellings! "Heirborne," for example. No one caught that. On the same page, "device" was spelled "devise." Really bad.
July 25, 2011
How James Lileks finds the zany photos and ads for his books is beyond me! Here he has included actual ads from years ago featuring baby and child care products, and added his own laugh-out-loud text 'explaining' them. As a reader you will be dumbfounded at the stuff that was actually marketed for parents!
December 18, 2007
Lileks' latest nostalgia-gone-wrong project; I started looking thru it last night & it's pretty good, tho not as good as his previous efforts... maybe it's because a little more is at at stake (parenthood vs cooking/decorating).
October 16, 2007
Fun, but not nearly as hilarious as Gallery of Regrettable Food--there just wasn't enough material for this one, I don't think. What's there is mostly great, but there seem to be some filler . . .
Still, this is definitely worth a library look.
Still, this is definitely worth a library look.
July 30, 2008
Every mom-to-be should read this book - just to see what NOT to do. Hilarious look at child-rearing in days gone by. Its positively horrifying what our parents and grandparents did, I wonder that we survived at all.
August 10, 2008
Funny!! How in the world did my generation even get here? Reading this book, and the advice and ads that our parents and grandparents were given makes me wonder seriously if maybe the government was trying its own form of thinning the herd. Hilarious look at parenting advice from back in the day.
January 23, 2009
Not consistently funny from cover to cover, but certain pages made me laugh until I cried. Also makes you wonder which of our modern parenting techniques will make our grandchildren shake their heads . .
April 15, 2009
Another hilarious installment from James Lileks, this book looks at all the bad advice that seemed prevalent in the 50s and marvels that we even made it out alive. Not as funny as The Gallery of Regretable Food, but well worth reading if only to marvel at the advice itself.
January 17, 2011
Poor kids...but they made out ok as adults. I was delighted and outraged at the
same time. I have to stop reading books that make me feel these mixed emotions;
I won't know what's what if I don't stop.
same time. I have to stop reading books that make me feel these mixed emotions;
I won't know what's what if I don't stop.
March 15, 2013
VERY funny! LOTS of pictures of old advertisements featuring babies and parents.
This book is even funnier when you are old enough to actually REMEMBER some of this stuff!
I think we're keeping this one.
This book is even funnier when you are old enough to actually REMEMBER some of this stuff!
I think we're keeping this one.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 63 reviews