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Mommy Knows Worst: Highlights from the Golden Age of Bad Parenting Advice Paperback – October 25, 2005

by James Lileks (Author)

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Don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater!

Ahhhh, the 1940s and ’50s . . . a time when parents everywhere strove for the American Dream—manicured lawns, a shiny car in the driveway, and perfect children playing in the yard. Raising kids was simpler back then, or was it?

In Mommy Knows Worst, you’ll be treated to a visual feast of past parenting neuroses—as well as insight into why concerned moms and dads were driven to buy “delicious” baby laxatives, douse their baby in oil and put him in the sun, and strap Junior into a car seat that bore a strange resemblance to scrap metal. If you’re a baby boomer who lived through this childhood torture, well, we’re sorry. But if humor really is the best medicine (rather than bicarbonate of curd and mustard plaster, as was previously recommended for childhood ailments), then Mommy Knows Worst is cheaper than therapy.

Photographs, advertisements, magazine articles, and government-issue parenting guides, which seemed so helpful in their day, are given a whole new slant by the master of the genre, James Lileks. Mommy Knows Worst is a rollicking tribute to old-fashioned parenting that gives us a whole new reason not to forget our past—it’s hilarious!

Print length

176 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Three Rivers Press
Publication date

October 25, 2005
Dimensions

7.5 x 0.5 x 8.25 inches
ISBN-10

1400082285
ISBN-13

978-1400082285
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

From the author of The Gallery of Regrettable Food comes a horrifying-yet-hysterical book dedicated to the expert parenting advice from previous generations. Each glossy page includes vintage print ads and photos accompanied by James Lilek's mean comments. But then, what other response is possible, when faced with cough syrup advertisement with a happy child exclaiming, "A cough syrup good enough to eat with ice cream"!

General categories include "Clothing and Accessories" (including a pattern to make a headband that binds protruding ears to babies' heads), "Bowels" (featuring an ad with the text, "If he spanks me again, I'm going to run away from home"), and "The Good Old Days", which offers several detailed options for creating a home delivery center. In every chapter, Lilek's comments are the equivalent of cracks from your most sarcastic friend.

For any new parent who's tired of modern advice books, or expecting parents in need of a touch of humor amidst the stress of pregnancy, look no further. Every page has a laugh, and every page will remind the reader that sooner or later, almost all parenting advice will end up having the same worth as what's included here. Jill Lightner

About the Author

James Lileks is a columnist for the Star-Tribune in Minneapolis. He is the author of The Gallery of Regrettable Food and Interior Desecrations. His website, lileks.com, is among the most popular humor sites on the Internet.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Three Rivers Press (October 25, 2005)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 176 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1400082285
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1400082285
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.5 x 0.5 x 8.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,199,379 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,233 in Parenting & Families Humor
- #8,925 in Fiction Satire
- #126,341 in Health, Fitness & Dieting (Books)

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4.5 out of 5

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Angie2

Momma and Grandma knew best,or maybe not??....

Reviewed in the United States on September 14, 2007

Verified Purchase

I own the author's other book (called "Interior Degrecations") and that book made me chuckle, so I wanted to see what this book was like. I found this book on sale, and I think I laughed even louder when I read this one by Lileks.
Basically, Lileks found a varity of advertisements from various magazines and newspapers from around 1905 to the late 1960's. Then he reproduced them in this book (very nicely) and finally, he added his own humorous takes on each and every ad.
Lileks' sense of humor can be hard to take, if you are thin skinned, but if you like a sense of humor that is a bit over the edge, then you will appreciate Lileks' humor. Some people may have been offended, but I was not because I understood what he was trying to show & say.
This book is not meant to be taken seriously.
Lileks stuck to the topic 100%. In other words, as the book's title and sub-title stated,this book pokes fun at the home-remedies and the "grandma & momma-knows-best" advice that many of us may have heard throughout our lives. Maybe an 18 year old may not have heard of any of these "practical hints", but if the reader has been around for at least 30 years, the remedies will bring back memories of the past, and keep you on the floor laughing. I have shared this book with other 30+ year old persons and they laughed along with me.
If you can find this book on sale, as I did, it may not be a bad buy for you, because in my opinion, we all need to lighten up at times and laugh at ourselves (and at our Mom's advice that was past down from genration to generation).

4 people found this helpful

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T. Atchison

Lileks digs deep in the closet and pulls out another winner!

Reviewed in the United States on October 28, 2005

Verified Purchase

Of the 176 pages packed into this soft cover, not one disappointed.
Excellent content, graphics and sarcasm.

Once again, Mr. Lileks has scoured the deepest, dankest corners of used bookstores throughout the upper Midwest in search of the inane commonality of yesteryear - so you don't have to.

You may want to invest in a Staydry Panty (acclaimed by thousands and NOT a diaper) prior to reading this book, or evacuate your bladder first.
If you forget and find yourself passing water before you can get to your "chair-chair"... be sure to boil everything. Even the chair.

Wondering what in the name of Uncle Remus I'm talking about?

"Mommy Knows Worst" by James Lileks is an irreverent, yet completely logical look at parenting advice from days past.

Grandma might not find it amusing, but anyone under 80 will.

From advice on hanging your baby out the apartment window, to making formula, artificial nipples, constipation and, well, what happens after. This book covers parenting books and magazines from the Thirties through the Fifties with the added commentary of James Lileks - and his trademark sense of humor.

For those who love paging through old magazines to those who are, were or about to become parents, it's a loving, yet sarcastic look at the (flawed) common sense of the past.

5 stars, as are all Lileks books.

Not bad for a boy from Fargo, ND.

21 people found this helpful

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jo

Good read for all ages: Boomers, Gen Xers, etc.

Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 2013

Verified Purchase

Not quite up to the standard Lileks set with his Gallery of Regrettable Food and Interior Desecrations, this is still a good book for anyone who needs an entertaining fix for their nostalgia addiction. Wry and spot-on, some of it is even disturbing. But then, so it Lileks.

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Bruce F. Webster

His best book to date

Reviewed in the United States on October 28, 2005

Verified Purchase

I may send this book to all my childen--several of whom now have kids of their own--just to give them a glimpse of the world into which I was born in the early 1950s.

Fortunately, my own mother was (a) a registered nurse, (b) highly intelligent and (c) tough as nails, so she didn't pay attention to most of this rather scary advice. Also, I was the 5th of 6 kids, so she had already perfected her approach on them. (Of course, whether or not she was ready for _me_ is another question entirely; it is telling that even now when our family gets togther, they tend to tell "Bruce" stories from several decades ago.)

Anyway, this is Lileks' best book to date--it came today and I read it cover-to-cover this evening, suffering several near-pulmonary-arrest fits of laughter in the process. My only complaint: it's far too short. I'm sure there is far more material out there for Lileks to skewer. Heck, I suspect even Dr. Spock's original (1946) _Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care_ would have produced a few gems.

As Lileks says, it seems a wonder how we all survived--though I think the creeping nannyism of our current society has swung too far in the other direction. That said, I'm definitely giving away copies of this book for Christmas this year. ..bruce..

112 people found this helpful

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Son of Samhain

Funny , Funny

Reviewed in the United States on February 2, 2018

Verified Purchase

A funny , funny book. I first encountered Lileks back in the late nineties when I encountered his mascot orphanage ( I adopted the CuddahayPig because we have similar culinary ...... uhhh... ' proclivities' :) ) and have found myself spending many hours with his website. This is a coffee table book that never fails to entertain , his wit and observational sense of humor are both hearty and sublime. This guy really knows his craft. Seriously , check out his website , its a scream. I have all 4 of his coffee table ad-skewering books and I believe this is the second one , His first being 'regrettable food' which I also reviewd and interior Desecrations being 3rd and Gastroanomalies being 4th They are all funny with the 1st having the most content. He is also a novelist but ive yet to read any of them though that will eventually change.

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