Elizabeth Beckwith

I'm giving this book two stars as a parenting book, but as a comedy I'd give it three or four.

This caught my eye because the older I get, the more I think my own parents' brilliant style of raising kids involved more guilt than my sister or I realized at the time, maybe even more than my parents meant to employ. And my parents were (and are) practically perfect - I mean, just look at me now, heh... - so perhaps guilt has its place in parenting.

As does snark.

Beckwith's advice covers plenty of topics but could probably be summed up in a general two-step process: 1) Make sure you kids know what assholes act like by pointing out assholes when you see them; and 2) Make sure your kids understand that the worst thing in the world is to become an asshole. The author also couches this tactic as indoctrinating your children with an us/them mentality: "us" is the family, and we do things a certain way; "them" are the assholes.

Even without kids, it's worth a read for the laughs.… (más)

Comedienne Elizabeth Beckwith espouses sure methods to raise your child to be better than any other. It all comes down to simple principles of guilt and manipulation to keep your children in line by ingraining deep feelings of shame so they continue to behave when you're not around.

Examples of some chapters:
Creating a Team of Us vs. Them
How to Scare the Crap Out of Your Child (in a Positive Way)
Don't be Afraid to Raise a Nerd
Mind Control: Why It's a Good Thing

I really wanted to like this book. The concept is fantastic, and there's some genuine wisdom mixed in along with Beckwith's family stories. The humor did get a bit too crude at times for me, and it makes me reluctant to recommend this to others folks... like my mom, who would chastise me for reading a book with "that language." (See, Beckwith? Your own book has backfired! Sorry!) It is laugh-out-loud funny at a few points, but I won't be keeping it.… (más)