Bare Minimum Parenting

Bare Minimum Parenting: The Ultimate Guide to Not Quite Ruining Your Child by James Breakwell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I have to say, one of my favorite parts of the book is when he thanks his kids for not dying, because that would have made him seem like a horrible person to be giving advice on parenting.

James Breakwell is one of those people that will automatically get me to buy a book. I don’t even care what the subject is, if his name is on it as the author, I’m buying it.

With this book, while it is hilarious, it also has some valid points. I’ve always wondered about the people I hear about that put their unborn babies on waiting lists for preschools. It seems a little extreme and in the long run doesn’t actually seem to get the kid any farther in life than if they went to *gasp* public school. In fact, in the past few years, there have been a few times where teens have been in trouble and have blamed it on affluenza and having been given way too much as a child. On the other hand, there have been teens in the news that come from poor neighborhoods and schools that have been accepted into amazing colleges with millions of dollars worth of scholarships. Sometimes less is actually more when raising kids.

I feel like this book is more enjoyable in its actual book form, not audio book or maybe even ebook. I don’t know how it looks as an ebook, so I can’t say for sure on that one. Just the design of the chapters where words are crossed out and replaced with new ones and the tables and charts make me wonder how much of that comes across when you are just listening. Who knows, maybe I’m just a visual person and like to see it in front of me. If paper books are not your thing, then go with one of the other formats, there is no doubt that the humor of the book does not diminish because of the format.

I would recommend this book to all adults, whether they have kids or not. I don’t have any, but still found it a delightful read.

Author: James Breakwell
Publisher: Atlantic Books
Publication Date: November 1st 2018

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