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

"In her blunt, sometimes caustic, manifesto, Waugh tackles the issues that dominate parenting blogs and torment mothers daily. Breast-feeding, crying-it-out, the dismal sport of competitive birthday parties Waugh skewers them all. She's like the chain-smoking, worldly aunt who takes a deep drag on her cigarette before blowing a cloud of smoke in your face and telling you to stop worrying and get on with your life." "The New York Times Book Review"

"""Mothers of all ages and stages will be entertained by Waugh s provocative book." "Publishers Weekly""

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.