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(More customer reviews)If you like funny stories that ring true about being a parent, Erma Bombeck's the writer for you. If you want hysterical drawings of teenagers, Bil Keane is your cartoonist. They create a championship team of angst-relieving humorists for parents waiting up until 4 a.m. for the teenager who was supposed to be home at 10:30 p.m., and cannot be located.
The book was originally written about 25 years ago, so you will occasionally need to go back in time to understand the humor. The hair stories are all like that. Suffice to say, female and male teenagers wore very long hair then. It was often difficult to tell to which sex a person belonged. The humorous possibilities of this are wonderful, and well exploited.
I had the opportunity to meet Ms. Bombeck many years ago, and found her to be as self-effacing and interesting in person as her writing shows her to be. Much humor in books is aimed at putting down someone else. But Ms. Bombeck mixes lots of love with her humor, and the humor is often aimed at herself and other adults. That's what makes this book and its humor so heart-warming, even though she and Mr. Keane share eloquently about the frustrations of being a parent (especially a Mom).
If you are not familiar with her humor, it has a lot in common with slapstick. She takes an ordinary situation that often will not run smoothly (like teaching one's child to drive) and piles every single thing that ever goes wrong into one, nonstop, fast-paced incident. As disaster after disaster occurs, you find yourself overloaded with emotional discharges that can only be relieved by a good belly laugh. Think of it as an innoculation against frustration when a less challenging incident occurs.
The topics covered are pretty encyclopedic. You will learn about selective memory (forgetting to do chores, but remembering what one received at a certain age if a sibling gets more), driving lessons (how the other parent undermines the more cautious one), the futility of trying to keep up with swiftly changing styles (even the Mom who tries to keep up cannot, because she doesn't know how the styles changed during that day at school), how the telephone disappears until the teenagers leave the house, teenagers' fear of being embarrassed by their parents, the agonies of family vacations, the fall of parental intelligence as the teenagers get older (in the eyes of the children), loud music, money, proms, braces, boy or girl friends, worrying, and arguments.
Ms. Bombeck had three children, and uses them as her source of material. What she does especially well is capture the busyness of being a parent. When a special opportunity to make a connection comes along, it always seems like there are 6 other things that have to be done simultaneously. Her indirect message is to get rid of the busyness and focus on the connections on those rare occasions when they arise. I heartily agree with that.
The chapters are done in an amusing point-counterpoint style. The point is to quote some famous authority on parenting at the beginning of the chapter (many of whom were childless) who describes what parents should be doing. Then Ms. Bombeck describes the reality of what parents are up against as the counterpoint. Then she humorously wrings her hands over the futility of following the advice. This style works very well. Following the counterpoint perspective will also help free you from trying to follow impossibly high standards that will only drive you crazy.
But, at bottom (despite the sarcastic remarks), this is a loving book. Ms. Bombeck and Mr. Keane have lots of love for the teenagers and the parents. It's that love that makes the humor work, and makes this book add up to the following advice: Love 'em and enjoy 'em as teenagers . . . just the way they are.
After you finish laughing along with this book, go do something nice for a teenager. Then give yourself a good feeling for doing that. And repeat the process. The more you do it, the better you'll enjoy it.
And don't tell them: Just wait until you have children of your own. It doesn't work as a threat. Feel free to shout that imprecation though to the top of your lungs when they are temporarily out of the house. It'll make you feel great!
Keep smiling and laughing. It's the only relief . . . until they finally outgrow being teenagers!
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Just Wait Till You Have Children of Your Own"She goes a long way with her book to prove that humor is the best -- possibly the only -- way to keep the world on an even keel."CHICAGO SUN-TIMESRemember the things Mother used to say? Erma Bombeck remembers them all and now she's using them on her own kids! With clever illustrations by Bob Keane, these really funny, too-true observations on family and kids and why it shouldn't work but does, is a wonderful antitdote to the daily problems and crises that every family faces. With Erma Bombeck in your corner, laughter is the best coach you can have....
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