James Breakwell – Bare Minimum Parenting. The ultimate guide to not quite ruining your child.

Hilarious and unpretentious

I was over the moon when Sinterklaas (the Catholic Saint whose birthday is celebrated as a big feast in the Netherlands) got me the newest book from James Breakwell. As his bio states he is a professional comedy writer and an amateur father of four. My deepest respect for him and Lola for raising four daughters, I have my plate full with two children 😊.

      Since I actually have a PhD (the title for Breakwell is striped through on the book), although not in child studies but in Sociology, I feel I am pretty qualified to review and rate this book. Breakwell has three premises we should all strive for in raising our kids: 

    * Make sure they can support themselves

    * Make sure they are not total social deviants

    * Make sure they will not blame you for how they turn out

In nineteen, quite hilarious, chapters he shows the reader how to achieve these three milestones of parenting with the least amount of effort possible. Which is not the same as doing completely nothing, because doing nothing can cause a lot of work in the long run. He takes us through the major parenting issues we know from real parenting books: food, clothing, taking pictures and school.

Being completely unpretentious and quite funny he shows the reader how not to quite ruin your child. This is the ultimate book for first-time parents who are afraid they will do everything wrong. There is not so much we can do wrong and for all the overachieving parents in the world, their children will turn out just as ordinary as most of us.

Interested in the book? Buy and read it. In need of more (parenting) fun? Follow Breakwell on his twitter-account @XplodingUnicorn. He makes my day at least once a week. As for rating the book: Breakwell deserves four stars. The book is funny and it’s main message is important: loosen up and enjoy life.