February 21, 2005

Perfect Solution to Perfect Madness?

In her review of Judith Warner's book, Perfect Madness: Motherhood in the Age of Anxiety, Judith Shulevitz tells the crazies to take a time out. Maybe, she says, the new generation of parents--yes, parents, meaning mothers and fathers--will approach this ultimately unsustainable overworking-and-overparenting dilemma differently. She notes--and notes that Warner doesn't note--that the increased time spent on parenting over the last ten years was put in by fathers.

Perfect Madness: The Mommy Trap [nytimes book review]

2 Comments

Thanks for linking this review -- I'd somehow missed it. And to think that pre-baby I'd read the Sunday Times cover-to-cover....

I'd seen the Warner article in Newsweek at the doctor's office during the 12 month check-up and read just enough to be confused -- the premise seemed rational but the arguments seemed stupid. Judith Shulevitz apparently has more braincells available to make a cogent argument.

Thanks for your comments, with which I totally agree. The Warner book is just familiar complaints and gives short shrift to Dads, and Moms who do not fall into the Mommy Trap. Interestingly, the article was called the "Mommy Trap" and there is a great book called "How To Avoid The Mommy Trap" about ways to not overparent and do too much. It tells the stories of Dads who take on primary parenting roles, and explains how this situation benefits children, women, and men, and shows how to get there. Real solutions. But the media likes problems more.

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