Parenting Is Easy: You're Probably Just Doing It Wrong

by Sarah Given

Imagine a world where pregnant women are always upbeat and glowing, newborns sleep on cue, toddlers love to have their teeth brushed, and teenagers gaze adoringly at their parents. Impossible, you say? Not according to advertisers who flood the web with stock photos of perfect parents and children. They’d have you believe that parenting is a piece of cake, and every significant moment of family life takes place on a spotless white couch.

So when Sara Given, a real mother of a real toddler, saw a picture of a radiant new mother in a cute little sundress breastfeeding her newborn in the middle of a golf course , she finally had enough. She launched a Tumblr, which is now visited by tens of thousands of new parents looking for a daily pick-me-up.

Because what better way is there to deal with the stress and strain of being a new parent than laughter? The perfect gift of cheer and solidarity, Parenting Is Easy exploits the disconnect between these preposterous photos and what happens in real life, and makes every reader laugh out loud—and feel better, too, because we’re in on the joke.

Genres: Humor, Parenting, Nonfiction, Adult, Photography, Family

176 pages, Paperback

First published September 22, 2015

Reviews

[Hameed Muhammadian · Rating 3 out of 5]

NICE ..
FOR RICH PEOPLE NOT POOR..
FOR WESTERN PEOPLE NOT EASTERN..

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Purchased this book on a whim while on a babymoon with my husband. It nearly made me pee my pants (which I know isn't exactly difficult while pregnant, but the sentiment is there). Just a reminder for myself not to take the perfectionism of parenting too seriously.

[Sarah Prager · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the Facebook page. It had me peeing my pants trying not to wake up my napping kid laughing out loud to the point of crying. Unfortunately the book’s 100+ captions made me laugh about once. Maybe it’s because they’re so much shorter, but it doesn’t seem like the same voice.

[Miko Knight · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ever seen those stock photos of parents smiling, relaxed, and clean, and wondered "WTF?" This book parodies those ridiculous images mercilessly with over-the-top captions. A copy was donated to the thrift store I work at, and made me literally laugh out loud. I immediately bought it for a friend with a difficult toddler, then came here and bought a new copy for a baby shower I was attending.
10/10, highly recommended!

[Ietrio · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is one of those supposedly funny power points with stock photos that used to spam your email a decade ago. I missed the humor. But I guess this is targeted at masochistic christians who discover that parenthood was a scam, but still want to feel superior.

[Donna Ciriello · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best parenting book ever - if you appreciate well-placed sarcasm and the complete impracticality of white furniture/carpet/clothes.
This book takes all those too perfect family and pregnancy photos from advertisements and gives them appropriate captions.
She had me at "white-couch feedings."

[Monique · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have always looked at these pictures in media and laughed at how that would never happen, so great to see it in print that someone thought the same thing.

[Bridget Berthold · Rating 5 out of 5]

I literally laughed out loud, many times

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes, most of these ridiculous stock photos of families, with their sarcastic captions highlighting the insane premise of each photo, are on the website. Still hilarious.

[Chani Kynes · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was hysterical. I never realized how much white and beige is used in advertising.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hillarious! I loved all the "white couch feeding"

[Kara Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun little book, laughed at many of the entries!!

[Sondra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read if you need a laugh

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

A laughing-out-loud book for all parents with kids of all ages. Laughs guaranteed!

[Sorry for any misspellings or grammatical mistakes - English is not my native language]

[Selene Clare · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty funny !! Read it during my third unexpected pregnancy!! Just cracked up the whole time - makes me remember to not take myself too seriously !

[Regina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hilarious.

[Wayne McCoy · Rating 3 out of 5]

'Parenting is Easy: You're Probably Just Doing It Wrong' by Sarah Given, is a satirical poke at the world of stock photos that show up in places like parenting magazines and ads.

Imagine a colorless (or muted pastel) world of white couches and happy children. Where children are obediently quiet and houses are clean and meals are balanced and healthy. This is the world that we see in magazines and we wonder what is wrong with us. Sarah Given decided to poke fun of it by captioning these photos on her Tumblr blog. This book is a collection of those posts.

The book is segmented into chapters based on pregnancy through the school years. The photos themselves are really surreal. The captions were amusing. I liked the ones in the last section of the book the best. That chapter is called Living the Good Life. Some of the captions seem a bit repetitive, but it is hilarious to see children and families cavorting in these pristine environments and eating on white couches.

If you know someone who is expecting or has young children, this might make a good gift book. Let them know that the realities of having and raising children is a wonderful experience, but they shouldn't expect it to look at all like these photos.

I received a review copy of this ebook from Workman Publishing Company and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.

[Trish · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a funny book about parenting. It will have you laughing out loud.

[Lacey Louwagie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved how this book called out the vast disconnect between people's lived experiences and marketers' attempts to capture their emotions. Every page is like a flashing BS detector. A lot of this probably wouldn't be funny to non-parents, but it's a good, light-hearted read for those in the trenches who feel as if they're the only ones who don't have their sh*t together when it comes to domesticity. Like any humor books, a few of the jokes fell flat, but there were enough laugh-out-loud moments to make it a worthwhile read. (And it's mostly pictures, so it's not much of an investment!) I read most of it to my son, who didn't get the humor, of course, but liked all the pictures of babies.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone who has had children should read this for a nice chuckle. It's one of those you are constantly grabbing your spouse to say "read this page- it's us!" It is a fast and great read from the author of "It's Like They Know Us" blogs. The thing that's nice about the book form of these "gathered from a website books" is that they are great for a flip-through at the library or when you don't have time to get into something meaty. You also can enjoy the content without accidentally hitting a Suburu or Allstate ad like on so many comic websites.

P.S. The author's name is "Sara." It says "Sarah" on this page.

[Molly · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this book version of the popular Tumblr blog, "It's Like They Know Us," the blog's creator, Sara Given shares stock photos of pregnancy, parenting and family that show people in an idealized world where things are always clean and everyone is happy paired with witty and often sarcastic captions she wrote that pokes fun at them. It is a quick and very funny read that will surely be a hoot for any person who has parented or taken care of young children. I have followed the blog for years and it is always good for a laugh.

[Meg - A Bookish Affair · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Parenting is Easy: You're Probably Just Doing It Wrong" is a hilarious collection of satiric riffs on the parenting bibles that all of us parents are so familiar with. If I have figured nothing else in a year of parenthood, it is that there is no manual and everything in those parenting books may or may not help you. This book makes fun of all of that! It is hilarious and I will go back to it over and over again whenever I'm not sure if I'm doing this whole parenting thing right. This would be a great gift for any parent who likes to laugh at themselves!

[K · Rating 4 out of 5]

Creator of the tumblr page It's Like They Know Us, Sarah has created a hilarious book simply by captioning stock photos in a manner that exposes just how ridiculous they are. We sat down together & laughed our way through this. While anyone can enjoy this, parents definitely need to pick this up. Guaranteed to make you laugh out loud at least once.

[Eliza · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick and funny enough! I, also, found funny the fact that even if the writer has a slight obsession with white couches and white clothes at the pictures, her family photo is on a white couch wearing white clothes, ironically! :)

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick humorous read! As a parent living in a social networking driven society it's easy to start comparing to others and feel like shit. Stop it. Parenting is a lifelong experience with never ending lessons. Make mistakes, learn, love, and keep it moving.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

HILARIOUS


Pop Sugar’s 2015 Reading Challenge - A book you can finish in a day

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a new Mom I found this hilarious and relatable. It's nice to laugh at something that can be so challenging. A quick read, I recommend it for some laughs.

[Laura (Book Scrounger) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome! Some of my favorites from the Tumblr are included, and while there is a lot more on Tumblr, it's fun to have an actual physical copy as a conversation piece or bathroom reading, etc.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A super funny look at pictures of parenting and families as it compares to real life. Great baby shower gift.

[Jen Petro-Roy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely hilarious and spot-on.