mom got a job

Yikes! Mom got a job?

My Mom Got a Job
Smith
1979

Mom got a job and now life is cruel. The basic story is that child laments how Mom used to do all these great things and now she doesn’t.  Dad’s role and responsibility in parenting is somewhat vague.  

As you can see from the image below, the new job also implies that Mom is letting kid slide on housework .  Kind of a boring story and the illustration on the cover (I think the eyes mostly) are giving me the creeps.  Not really that awful, but certainly no award winner either.

I will admit to some personal bias on this topic as a well-meaning (idiotic) school employee told me that my part time library “career” was probably a contributing factor in my son’s less than stellar behavior during 8th grade. I will also point out that no one ever said things like that to my husband.  Said child also remarked to school officials that he was probably genetically pre-disposed to behavior problems since his parents were also troublemakers.

To Train Up a Child

Train Up Your Child

To Train Up a Child
Pearl
1994

Submitter: I actually remember my mother having this book at some point (I don’t think she ascribed to it). Two children have died as a result of the author’s child care advice and one other was in critical condition. At some point some books aren’t even funny to joke about and just need to be removed because they endanger society. This is why I weed – to get stuff like this that might hurt others off the self.

Here is what Amazon Reviewer R. Craig “Mother” said and I couldn’t have built a case better myself. Currently World Cat has 56 libraries still holding this material.

Here are some details:

1) The Pearls recommend whipping infants only a few months old on their bare skin. They describe whipping their own 4 month old daughter (p.9). They recommend whipping the bare skin of “every child” (p.2) for “Christians and non-Christians” (p.5) and for “every transgression” (p.1). Parents who don’t whip their babies into complete submission are portrayed as indifferent, lazy, careless and neglectful (p.19) and are “creating a Nazi” (p.45).

2) On p.60 they recommend whipping babies who cannot sleep and are crying, and to never allow them “to get up.” On p.61 they recommend whipping a 12 month old girl for crying. On p.79 they recommend whipping a 7 month old for screaming.

Who's in Charge?

A Parent Management System

Who’s in Charge?
A Positive Parenting Approach To Disciplining Children
Peters
1990

You know I love the parenting books. (They are so optimistic!)  This is such a cool cover.  Note the mother’s calm demeanor.  What you can’t see is the cocktail and the gun.  This book is full of helpful charts and graphs.  (I have often whipped out a Power Point detailing my “issues” when my teens need some serious parenting–Totally works!)  The whole thing reminds me of a horrible performance evaluation form.  Maybe the parent will issue a TPS report after filling out the chart.

FYI friends, I graduated my last child on May 27 and have now taken up the moniker of “parent emeritus.”

How to really love your teenager

Loving your teenager

How to Really Love Your Teenager
Campbell
1982

Thanks to anonymous submitter for this title.  This title creeped me out when I first read it.  Emphasis on “really” made me do a double take.  Maybe I watch too much television and assume the worst.

Okay, so the cover is dated, but the message isn’t too bad.  Be honest, if they had stuck a goth-looking kid sneering at his parents instead of  a “Leave it to Beaver” kid on the front, I might think that this book had something to say.  This kid looks like the only rebelling he has done is to say he wanted to go to the Saturday Mass instead of get up early on Sunday morning.