ACT Natural

<p><strong>From a distinctive inimitable voice a wickedly funny and fascinating romp through the strange and often contradictory history of Western parenting</strong><br/><br/>Why do we read our kids fairy tales about homicidal stepparents? How did helicopter parenting develop if it used to be perfectly socially acceptable to abandon your children? Why do we encourage our babies to crawl if crawling won't help them learn to walk?</p><p>These are just some of the questions that came to Jennifer Traig when--exhausted frazzled and at sea after the birth of her two children--she began to interrogate the traditional parenting advice she'd been conditioned to accept at face value. The result is <em>Act Natural </em> hilarious and deft dissection of the history of Western parenting written with the signature biting wit and deep insights Traig has become known for. </p><p>Moving from ancient Rome to Puritan New England to the Dr. Spock craze of mid-century America Traig cheerfully explores historic and present-day parenting techniques ranging from the misguided to the nonsensical to the truly horrifying. Be it childbirth breastfeeding or the ways in which we teach children how to sleep walk eat and talk she leaves no stone unturned in her quest for answers: Have our techniques actually evolved into something better? Or are we still just scrambling in the dark?</p>