Act Natural

Act Natural

Adult nonfiction
"Much of what we [21st century parents] do, in fact, other
parents would never consider. The things we take for granted as
normal and natural strike parents in other parts of the world as
absurd and dangerous, as wrong as letting your toddler play with a
machete, which by the way, some Congolese parents do. And as
horrified as we are by their methods, they are by ours. Playing with
knives is one thing, but putting your child asleep alone? That's
child abuse."
As exhausted parent of two very young children, Jennifer Traig,
quoted above, found herself learning that many contemporary American
childraising practices range from inane to bizarre. A lot of us have
had that epiphany. Traig, however, did something with it. She
conducted extensive research on parenting practices through time and
around the world. The fruit of her labor is the amazing Act Natural:
A Cultural History of Misadventures in Parenting. Don't let the word
"parenting" in the title deter you. There are plenty of people with
no interest whatsoever in procreating to whom I'd recommend this
excellent book.
You see, I've read many scholarly books. I've read many
bitingly humorous books. Before Act Natural I'd never seen the two
genres combined so seamlessly. Except for sleeping (which makes
reading impossible) and showering (which makes it not such a good
idea) I read the book cover to cover without putting it down. I
startled quite a few fellow bus passengers by repeatedly laughing my
head off.
Anyway, if you've been a child, brought children into the world
or plan on doing so, or just wondered why our parents and other
ancestors followed what may seem like really bizarre practices, I
think you'll find Act Natural to be a must read.
On a purrrsonal note, this is the last day of October break for me.
Well technically tomorrow is. But I have two meetings in regard to
separate academic class projects. Anyway I was going to have a
fabulous thrift shop expedition with a friend. Only first thing I saw
this morning was a email from my friend that she couldn't make it. I
thought, oh, well, more time for studying. For maybe five minutes. I
could make a Goodwill run myself and stop at Hannaford to get the
ingredients to make Eugene a surprise molasses cake. He did give me a
really special day yesterday. It was a good thing I did. I got all
kinds of cat and unicorn and Halloween stuff really cheap. Also
splurged a little on sweets at Hannaford. When I got home I could not
find the cookbook with my mother-in-law's molasses cake recipe.
Internet to the rescue. I found a recipe with what looked like
similar ingredients.
A great big shout out goes out to bangor Goodwill workers who keep the
store so fabulous and Eugene who I hope will enjoy his molasses cake.
jules hathaway



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