Yesterday I drove to work listening to NPR as usual and ended up shouting at the radio because of the nonsense being spouted by Michael Lewis, author of Home Game: An Accidental Guide to Fatherhood.
Lewis, a full-time writer (so he isn’t in a particularly taxing profession), complains in the book that he has to do about a third of the childcare in his household. The point being, his father never did any childcare at all and he thought it would be the same for him. Of course, life isn’t like that anymore, especially as lots of mums are eager to resume their careers.
I was thinking ‘well this book just shows the difference in the generations.’ Then Lewis let it slip that his household also includes a nanny!
A nanny! What are you complaining about? You’ve got a nanny! What a waste of a book! Stop whining and pull your weight. If things get tough, you can just dump the kid on the nanny and bugger off for night any way.
There have been times when I’ve returned home from work and a screaming baby has been thrust into my arms by my other half almost before I’m out the car. Any parent knows that working a full-time job is much easier than being a full-time stay-at-home mum or dad. During the early years of both my children, I did the full night shift to give my other half as much sleep as possible. Both my children were poor sleepers as babies, the second was an absolute nightmare. She was such as a sensitive sleeper that one time after spending around 50 minutes to rock her to sleep and then gently placing her in the crib, I slowly tried to exit her bedroom only for my knee joint to crack and wake her up. Becoming a parent gave me a new appreciation for the beauty and value of sleep.
I’m glad there are psychic book reviewers on the internet. I’d hate to have stumbled across an impression of this book that didn’t dismiss it before really even knowing what it was about based on the reviewer’s sense of indignation.
You’re welcome. I have a sixth sense about rubbish books. It’ll be out of print in a jiffy.
R
I hear it on NPR also. It appears you didn’t listen.
Oh I listened. I heard a man with a nanny and a job with no set hours complaining about the amount of childcare he had to do.
I don’t think he was complaining, actually. I think he was saying that he was unprepared for fatherhood and for how incompetent he felt at first. I thought he admitted quite clearly that he didn’t do a very good job of it when his kids were young.
I was riveted to the interview, actually, because my husband and I (we are actors–no money and no nanny) were also unprepared for parenthood; we thought we’d be awash in lovely feelings and a few “hard nights”, only to find that every night was hard for about two years, and the lovely feelings were at war with the feelings of resentment/incompetence/guilt/etc. After our second was born, I began to finally find the flow and really enjoy motherhood, but my husband still struggles with complex emotions (though he’s right in there, playing with kids, changing diapers, doing dishes, etc.) I think he’ll relate to Michael Lewis. I am going to record the interview with Lewis and give it to my husband for Fathers Day!
I absolutely can see why you found Lewis so annoying, by the way. I just heard him differently.
thx
I’m shocked that you claim to be “staff at AbeBooks”.
If you’re going to review the book maybe you should read the book.
It’s not a complaint about the workload of parenting, it’s a humorous confession about his actual feelings about fatherhood.
It’ll be a NYT Bestseller all summer.