Dirt is Good for You: True Stories of Surviving Parenthood [Paperback]

Editors of Babble.com (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 9, 2009

Babble.com is the brainchild of the creators of Nerve.com, and has fast become the biggest name in parenting media.From their incredibly popular Bad Parent column comes a breakthrough anthology: a collection of brutally honest,eye-opening tales of imperfect parenting from a host of acclaimed writers and real parents alike. For any parent who has contemplated tossing their kid's artwork, bribed their tots with candy, decided not to breastfeed or breastfed "too long," these essays are both candid and cathartic. Dirt is Good for You reveals the age-old truth that, despiteour imperfections, our kids are growing up just fine. And they still love us.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

With over 1.5 million unique readers per month, Babble.com is the premier online magazine for a new generation of parents. Babble recently won Folio's 2008 Silver Eddie Award for Best Website.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books (September 9, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811871185
• ISBN-13: 978-0811871181
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #472,530 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars stories not so "shocking" as I expected, October 20, 2009

By 

Ladybug (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dirt is Good for You: True Stories of Surviving Parenthood (Paperback)

(What's this?)

I was expecting some really shocking stories about parenting when I read this book's description. But, really, these stories are relatively tame. (Although, a story by Jennifer Baumgardner about letting her friend breastfeed her child did kind of gross me out.) I agree with other reviewers that most of the parents who wrote for this book seemed to make a big deal over nothing. Is it so strange that a person would be disappointed at first by a surprise pregnancy? Or that a parent doesn't use all the proper medical terms for body parts when potty training her young daughter? Further, even when the parents express "wrong" emotions or thoughts, most wrap up their essays with a cheery little "but all's well that ends well" message. Overall, this book was disappointing and even boring. For a more thoughtful, humorous collection of essays on parenting, I would recommend _Because I Said So: 33 Mothers Write About Children, Sex, Men, Aging, Faith, Race, and Themselves_.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars These people are parents? Riiiiiiight., October 4, 2009

By 

Rhianna Walker "Rhi" (Northwestern US) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dirt is Good for You: True Stories of Surviving Parenthood (Paperback)

(What's this?)

It isn't often I feel overly critical or snarky toward people writing about parenting. It ain't an easy job and until babies are born with instruction manuals tied around their ankles the phrase "bad parent" can't in good conscience fly from my own lips. But when a group of self-proclaimed "bad parents" come together to contribute to a book of anecdotes about their experiences as moms and dads I expect to be reading something that has humor, a little poking fun at the misjudgements we make as parents and something a little uplifting to remind the reader that the experience of parenting may not be flawless but can make one a better person.

Instead of being uplifting or even encouraging, DIRT IS GOOD FOR YOU, collects tales from what practically reads like the same author over and over and over. Whines about the standards of "normal" parents, groans about being stay-at-home parents and moans about the kids themselves vie for the crown of worst parent ever. But are these parents really that bad? Only in their own minds.

Not every tale is without wit or humor, I found a couple of them to be amusing and even endearing. On the whole though these authors just honestly digusted me. I can only think of one who actually sounded as if they were not some Manhattanite free-lance writer engaging in masturbatory overindulgence of the ego. Where are the real moms and dads? Sure, some of these woes are very real. Fretting over a child who only eats macaroni and cheese or struggling to bond with a newborn are very real, very common issues. But do these make the writers bad parents? Even the woman breastfeeding a child old enough to be lifting her shirt and demanding his 'nah-nahs' isn't so horrid, though I personally found it a bit disturbing.

What furthermore made this collection impossible to like was that in spite of each self-proclaimed example of being a "bad parent", most of them managed to twist it back around into how they were a "good parent" because they let themselves be "bad parents". I do believe it is certainly not wrong for a parent who thinks they are doing something wrong to come to a point where they realize there is no right or wrong way to handle certain issues of parenting. But when the book devolves into nothing but this sort of thing coming from unrelatable figures it just doesn't resonate with your average, everyday parent who might be looking for a good laugh and a reminder that being a parent is a journey, not a destination.

I rarely say this but don't waste your money on this book. Instead, take your bad parent self and your child(ren) out for an ice cream sundae dinner or better yet... be really bad and put the kids to bed and indulge in some trashy reality TV about really scary parents (Toddlers & Tiaras anyone?), have a glass of wine (ow two) and congratulate yourself on knowing that parenthood isn't about YOUR survival... it's about THEIR survival in spite of us. ;)

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Like being trapped in a room with a bunch of "those" moms, October 17, 2009

By 

T Rose "T Rose" (New York) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Dirt is Good for You: True Stories of Surviving Parenthood (Paperback)

(What's this?)

Have you ever been trapped in a conversation with a parent who spews endlessly about how their way of parenting is the best? Someone who takes their views to extreme? I had that same feeling when I was reading this book.

Not all chapters are braggy and annoying, but enough are that I didn't enjoy the book. I was expecting lighthearted stories about parenting. That's not what I got out of it.

If I wanted to hear people bragging about not letting kids disrupt their lives or people bragging that they let their kids do whatever they wanted, I'd join another playgroup.

While I found some stories refreshingly honest, I feel that most were exaggerated in an attempt to be different from every other parent out there. As one author put it "We don't celebrate Average Joe or Jane. We're bored with Average. We pity it." Perhaps that's the need many of these parents had for one-upping traditional parenting views.