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Small Animals
Small Animals: Parenthood in the Age of Fear | Kim Brooks
11 posts | 12 read | 15 to read
"Part memoir, part history, part documentary, part impassioned manifesto...it might be the most important book about being a parent that you will ever read." Emily Rapp Black, New York Times bestselling author of The Still Point of the Turning World A beautifully told, harrowing story...Heather Havrilesky One morning, Kim Brooks made a split-second decision to leave her four-year old son in the car while she ran into a store. What happened would consume the next several years of her life and spur her to investigate the broader role Americas culture of fear plays in parenthood. In Small Animals, Brooks asks, Of all the emotions inherent in parenting, is there any more universal or profound than fear? Why have our notions of what it means to be a good parent changed so radically? In what ways do these changes impact the lives of parents, children, and the structure of society at large? And what, in the end, does the rise of fearful parenting tell us about ourselves? Fueled by urgency and the emotional intensity of Brookss own story, Small Animals is a riveting examination of the ways our culture of competitive, anxious, and judgmental parenting has profoundly altered the experiences of parents and children. In her signature styleby turns funny, penetrating, and always illuminatingwhich has dazzled millions of fans and been called "striking" by New York Times Book Review and "beautiful" by the National Book Critics Circle, Brooks offers a provocative, compelling portrait of parenthood in America and calls us to examine what we most value in our relationships with our children and one another.
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TheEllieMo
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#Cheese # QuotsyJan2020 @TK-421

Sleepswithbooks Happy National Cheese Lover‘s Day! 🧀 (edited) 5y
KristenDuck Lol I love cheese! 5y
38 likes2 comments
review
msubhasi76
Pickpick

Good.

review
RedbagReadbooks
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Mehso-so

3/5🦊. Kim Brooks takes us into her world as a mother that was arrested for leaving her four year old son in the car while she ran into the store. She explores, very briefly, different views and anxieties that parents experience in today‘s world. I thought her explorations into each subject were just too short for me. It did make me want to explore more about this topic.

8little_paws I found the idea of parenting so depressing after reading this 6y
RedbagReadbooks @8little_paws I have 3 children and it was a little depressing reading this. However, I find that if I just care a little less about competitive parenting 6y
35 likes2 comments
review
8little_paws
Pickpick

Well that was terrifying. The author leaves her 4 year old son locked in the van with his iPad on a comfortable day while she spends 15 minutes buying something at target, and is arrested after a concerned citizen reports her. The book goes on to address the culture of over parenting and micro managing kids, and how alienating motherhood is.

Jinjer In the 70‘s my parents left me in the car on cross country road trips while they had leisurely breakfasts because I wasn‘t a breakfast eater and preferred sleeping. There was never any incident but could a parent do that now???? 6y
8little_paws @Jinjer according to this book, not a chance in hell 6y
Jinjer @8little_paws Man...when I think about little me climbing up onto the roof of our house & nearly falling to my death...and my mom dropping me and my friend off to climb the local buttes all by ourselves without water, helmets or proper shoes....riding my bike to the park, alone, no helmet...I could go on and on. Now she‘d be called neglectful but she wasn‘t. No one thought anything was dangerous back then. 6y
43 likes3 comments
review
Chelsea.Poole
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Pickpick

I finally finished this nonfiction examination of current trends in parenting. It's not a spoiler to say the book came to be because the author left her 4 year old son in the car while she ran into Target to get an item. She is charged with child endangerment as a result. This incident is fully examined and the culture of parenting as a result of fears, at times irrational. (Pictured is one of my small animals 🐒) *continued below 👇🏻

Chelsea.Poole Brooks makes the case that we, as parents and a society, are sheltering children and preventing them from becoming independent and able to learn for themselves because of all of the helicopter parenting being done nowadays. 6y
Tamra I recall hearing about her story. I read another book that came to the same conclusion - showing how restricted children have become despite lower or same crimes rates. But the perception is there is more danger. Sad. (edited) 6y
Chelsea.Poole @Tamra I agree. I am going to try to raise my boys without overwhelming fear. Although, as a mother, how do you set aside the worry? 6y
Tamra @Chelsea.Poole it‘s difficult, but I try to exercise common sense. 6y
96 likes3 stack adds4 comments
blurb
Chelsea.Poole
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A quiet moment on this Sunday morning. It's a beautiful day here, 53 degrees in December, so I plan to take a walk this morning with my preschooler and toddler and then head out to see family. Hope you all have a nice day today, wherever you may be ☺️
Ps- that is a HUGE cream puff my husband brought home to me last night from an authentic German restaurant in Columbus, OH. It's amazing 😋 with hot tea in a Christmas mug, first time this season 🎄

Paula3 Lovely Christmas cactus 6y
ravenlee Ooh, was it Schmidt‘s? 6y
Zelma What lovely photo ! 6y
See All 12 Comments
Tamra I spy green outside that door! 😍 6y
Chelsea.Poole @Paula3 thank you! I have been diligently taking care of it and babying it all year. I hope it lasts quite sometime. 😊 6y
Chelsea.Poole @ravenlee yes! Have you been? 6y
Chelsea.Poole @Zelma thank you! It was a lovely break this morning ☕️ 6y
Chelsea.Poole @Tamra there is a bit of green, but I fear it won't last long! 6y
ravenlee Years ago! My aunt used to live around the corner from there. My parents lived in Gahanna from 1991-2006, so I was there through high school. I visited about four years ago and made sure my German-food-loving husband got to go to Schmidt‘s.As a vegetarian, all I can eat there is the cream puffs (a meal in itself). Have you had the peanut butter and chocolate one? (edited) 6y
Chelsea.Poole @ravenlee I love German Village, what a quaint place to live! also a vegetarian 🙋🏼‍♀️ so I've been in before but I haven't eaten there. The vanilla puff was the first and only I've had. 6y
ravenlee Have you been to the Book Loft? 6y
Chelsea.Poole @ravenlee yessss!!! Ahh, it's amazing!! 😍 6y
113 likes12 comments
blurb
Chelsea.Poole
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I picked this one up yesterday. I've had it for awhile but forgot about it a bit. When I saw it on the #npr booklist the other day I decided to start it. Pictured are my small animals in the background. They're making it pretty difficult to actually read 😅

britt_brooke 💚💚 6y
kspenmoll Cuties! ❤️ 6y
Cinfhen Cuteness 🥰 6y
80 likes1 stack add4 comments
review
AndLamb83
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Pickpick

I want to recommend this book to everyone my age and older who grew up playing outside unsupervised and fearless. We are now raising our own kids in a world full of unwarranted fear and we face so much judgment against our choices for OUR families. This book puts a lot of things into perspective. If you never read another book on parenting (I probably won't!), let this one be it.

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Pam.Kokomo
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Pickpick

Brooks takes a long look at what parenting has become (hovering, anxious, keeping up with the Jones‘, competitive), what childhood has become (constrained, over-scheduled, overly shielded from all possible risk), and how that all came to a head in her own life.

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jillrhudy
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“ ‘I think I have the most external locus of control that is humanly possible,‘ I admitted. ‘I feel like my locus of control is one of those distant moons of Jupiter. I basically feel like I have no control over anything.‘
She [Barbara Sarnecka, social scientist at UC-Irvine] told me that if that‘s true, research would suggest that I am not a very happy person.
‘Research doesn‘t lie,‘ I said.”

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lovelybookshelf
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Panpan

This book didn't live up to its blurb. It seems to speak more to parents who lack confidence in their parenting, who really worry about keeping up with and how they appear to others. Although the author acknowledges her own privilege, there's still an icky layer of ableism and classism throughout. Her points felt scattered and unfocused. When a significant point/angle did come up, it wasn't fleshed out before moving on. Not a satisfying read.