Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
By David O’Neil, NLA Publishing, $19.99.
This is not your ordinary look at a book about parenting. It certainly is not … in the traditional sense.
This ‘laugh-out-loud look’ at parenthood through the ages by comedian and father of three Dave O’Neil, places an interesting perspective on responsibilities.
He opens with: “Parenting. It’s the one thing our parents didn’t teach us. They taught us how to tie our shoelaces, how to eat with a knife and fork and how to take down a buffalo with a lasso from 100 metres. No, hang on, that was Crocodile Dundee. Mainly they did what their parents did – read Dr Spock and eavesdropped down at the infant health centre”.
The definitions are simple enough. If parenting is a process of rearing a child, then parenthood is the state of being a parent. It involves the role you take, whether it is as a father or mother, individually or collectively.
The intricacies of raising a child are inherent in parenting and it’s not exclusively for a biological relationship. Child rearing is the process of promoting and supporting the physical, emotional, social and intellectual development of a child from infancy to adulthood.
After 300,000 years of keeping kids alive, you’d reckon we’d have it nailed. As the decades roll on, however, it seems we’re as “clueless as ever. In the great tradition of mums and dads throughout history, we’re still making it up as we go along”.
“Hopscotch may have given way to Xbox and fish fingers to quinoa-kale organic nuggets, but, when it comes to parenting, some things never change.”
Asking questions, making observations, answering in a specific, articulate manner, this colourfully illustrated book will have you thinking out aloud. It’s a different perspective.
