7 Proven Methods to Help You Screw Up Your Kids Deliberately and with Skill

great book, although supposed to be just for laughs it makes very valid points about how children will be traumatized no matter what u do so since you cant avoid it you might as well do it in a way that prepares them for adulthood and continues to give examples how.... arrived promptly in amazing condition.

This book is hilarious and very cathartic to anyone who has been frustrated as a parent (humans.). Warning, if you have no sense of humor, you will not enjoy is and be confused. Purchase a book on having a sense of humor, then purchase this one and enjoy.

This product is so detailed and well written! It's extremely funny and absolutely worth the price! Kept my dad laughing for several days and we're still finding interesting pieces within it. I highly recommend it.

One of the most amusing things about this slender book is that there are for-real parenting guides that advocate many of the approaches listed here! They change with the years, but when I was a new parent, I read actual advice books proposing the rudiments of at least half of these approaches.

I am undecided whether to give it to my stepson and his wife in honor of their new baby... I'm not sure how snarky their sense of humor is.

It's a quick read and very engaging, and the format and illustrations are perfect. If one is a parent oneself, it helps to be able to laugh at oneself! Like most good satire, sometimes it can hit close to home, although I'd expect the people following its "advice" the mostly wouldn't recognize themselves.

There are so, so many parenting manuals and approaches out there. This is great for giving perspective! and, you know, for the laughs!

Pretty dark book, very informative. The book tells you what happens to your child in the future if you treat your them a certain way. However children have different personalities, so how one kid turns out under an authoritative parent may be different than another kid.

This hardcover book is very thin and tiny, but the information seems pretty accurate. However, for all its sarcasm and wit, I expected it to be funnier. Anyway, it describes the various parenting types and explains in detail about how each type can ruin a person's life. But a lot of the information seems like common-sense tips about what NOT to do.

I bought this as a christmas gift. Unfortunately I won't be able to give a review of how well the book is written because I won't be able to read it but it seems well made. It is smaller than expected, I would call it pocket sized. What little I did read seems as if it doesn't take itself too seriously. I'm not sure I would purchase this as something to read myself but for the price it makes a nice gag gift.

Question: why would somebody read a parenting guide that advocates traumatizing children? Answer: because it's really funny! This book describes seven parenting styles that promise to psychologically damage any young person enough to require decades of adult therapy. The schools of parenting include the controller, the pusher, the narcissist, the indulger, the best friend, the self-esteem killer and neglector. The average reader comes to this book with a vague familiarity of these parenting styles. "How to Traumatize Your Children" gives each of these styles a colorful name and explores the roots and childhood consequences. The hope is to discover and develop a natural parenting style. As the authors write, "When it comes to trauma, there's no wrong way- there's only poor execution" (p. 17). After the introduction, each chapter features a parenting style with consistent organizational elements. One such element is the developmental stages section; it offers examples of how a given style works when a young person is in utero, an infant, baby, toddler, child, adolescent, teen, young adult and adult. For the neglectful parent, the in utero stage is described as follows, "Don't bother changing your diet or smoking, drinking, and drug habits just because you're pregnant. For fathers, pregnancy is an ideal time to leave without a forwarding address" (p. 135). The authors even explain the compatibility of various dysfunctional parenting styles. "How to Traumatize Your Children" is peppered with 'tidings of trauma' sections which feature germane quotes by various thinkers and celebrities. One of the highlights is by Clarence Darrow who wrote, "The first half of our life is ruined by our parents and the second half by our children." Another memorable tiding is, "There is no such thing as 'fun for the whole family'" -Jerry Seinfeld. The humorous graphics help to make the book a fast read. All kidding aside, the book actually teaches about parenting with humor and sarcasm. Readers will be surprised to recognize elements from their own childhood and reflect on the styles of the parents of childhood friends. For parent readers, there's much room for humorous self-examination. Unless one has academically studied family dysfunction, the potential reader is vaguely familiar with these styles but doesn't yet have the names or flushed out details. Indeed, the book has genuine value as a parenting tool in that it shows what not to do and why. The mixture of humor and sarcasm is likely to resonate with many personality types. If nothing else, "How to Traumatize Your Children: 7 Proven Methods to Help You Screw Up Your Kids Deliberately and with Skill" makes for an entertaining parody of the "for dummies" and "for idiots" guides.

Honestly was looking forward to this off the reviews I read here. Not written well and no parts were funny. It is written like you really want to screw up your kids and was expecting more of a humorous take on raising kids from a parents perspective. Put it in the trash...

Patenting is ridiculously difficult. You need some of the following to survive.... coffee, sense of humor, xanax, babysitters..etc. or maybe its just me. :) stop comparing yorself to people that seem to have perfect lives, with a perfectly decorated home and cupcakes. Humor is the best medicine when you are going bonkers