In All Joy and No Fun,
award-winning journalist Jennifer Senior tries to tackle this question,
isolating and analyzing the many ways in which children reshape their parents'
lives, whether it's their marriages, their jobs, their habits, their hobbies,
their friendships, or their internal senses of self. She argues that changes in
the last half century have radically altered the roles of today's mothers and
fathers, making their mandates at once more complex and far less clear.
Recruiting from a wide variety of sources—in history, sociology,
economics, psychology, philosophy, and anthropology—she dissects both the
timeless strains of parenting and the ones that are brand new, and then brings
her research to life in the homes of ordinary parents around the country. The
result is an unforgettable series of family portraits, starting with parents of
young children and progressing to parents of teens. Through lively and
accessible storytelling, Senior follows these mothers and fathers as they
wrestle with some of parenthood's deepest vexations—and luxuriate in some of
its finest rewards.
Meticulously researched yet imbued with emotional intelligence, All
Joy and No Fun makes
us reconsider some of our culture's most basic beliefs about parenthood, all
while illuminating the profound ways children deepen and add purpose to our
lives. By focusing on parenthood,
rather than parenting,
the book is original and essential reading for mothers and fathers of today—and
tomorrow.
