Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Science of Parenthood Book Review

Anyone who knows me knows that some of my favorite TV shows are ones with an element of "smart humor" or hard science to them. I loved Lost and all the energy shifting, alternate time lining, having to have a basic idea of physics to really get it, boundary pushing storylines. I still revisit the DVDs all the time. And I love Big Bang Theory and all the nerd elements to that show. I mean, my very first print published essay in an anthology was a spoof on the roommate agreement.

One of the things I love about Big Bang is the episode titles. They take hard scientific concepts and apply them to whatever antics the characters are up to in that particular show. It's smart, and that makes it even funnier to me.

So, obviously, when I met the authors of Science of Parenthood a year and a half ago at a blogging conference, I was an instant die hard fan. I have a bumper sticker. I have a magnet. I've shared plenty of their doodles (the kind of smart doodles you wish you'd written). And when they took their project further, I jumped on the chance to share it and answer some questions.



What’s Science of Parenthood all about?

Science of Parenthood uses fake math and science to “explain” the stuff that puzzles parents every day. Things like ...
Why are broken cookies “ruined?”
Why does it matter what color the sippy cup is?
Why can’t you put the straw in the juice box without your kid having a melt down?
Why will a kid whine-whine-whine for a toy, then lose all interest in that toy once they have it? 
Where the eff is my phone?  

They've come up with some pretty hilarious theories. And what's better, they have illustrations for these theories. And clearly, pictures make everything funnier.




Now, they've done it. They scored a publishing deal and they've got a BOOK out.

The book, Science of Parenthood: Thoroughly Unscientific Explanations for Utterly Baffling Parenting Situations, is like the blog … but like the blog on STEROIDS! The blog was the experimental stage of the scientific method - a way to field test material, and now the book contains the kinds of cartoons and writing that fans love to find at Science of Parenthood, along with all new cartoons, infographics, flowcharts pie charts and quizzes  created just for the book. About 90 percent of the book is brand new material.

Divided into four sections--biology, chemistry, physics and mathematics--the book lives in the chasm that exists between our collective hopes and dreams and expectations of what parenting will be like … and the brutal, slap-you-upside-the-head reality of what parenting actually is. The book covers all aspects of pregnancy, birth and the hilarious frustrations that come with early childhood (tantrums, picky eating, diaper blowouts, illness, sleep issues, play dates, toy creep, homework battles and encounters with crazy parents (not you, of course, we mean other parents). And you know what? You don’t even need to be a scientist to “get” it.  

The goal is just to make parents laugh. Because when you’re a parent, you NEED to laugh. Humor is a survival tool. After your kid has gotten the top off a jar of Vaseline and smeared every surface within reach--yes, that happened--or tried to “help” you paint a room and ended up covered in blue paint--that happened too--you have to laugh. Or you’ll end up sobbing. Or wearing one of those fancy white jackets that buckles up in the back.




Is any of the book autobiographical?

Pretty much all of the book reflects through our experiences as parents. Take the piece “Experimental Gastronomy: A Study in Potatoes” from the Chemistry section. It’s written like a scientific paper about an experiment in which a researcher tries to determine if a preschooler who likes French fries will eat mashed potatoes. Raise your hand if you can hypothesize the outcome (see what we did there?) The piece is completely based on Norine’s inability to get her five-year-old, who loves fries, to even taste mashed potatoes. Says Norine: “I tried everything! I even offered him extra chocolate for dessert, and he still refused to take even one tiny nibble.”





Why science? Are either of the authors scientists?

Nope. Just moms dealing with the same kind of crazy stuff everyone else is. Science just makes a great metaphor for the frustration, exasperation and humiliation that comes with everyday parenting. Think about Einstein and how he explained his theory of relativity: “Sit on a hot stove for a minute and it seems like an hour; sit with a pretty girl with an hour and it feels like a minute. That’s relativity.” Well, that’s parenthood too. One minute you’ve got a newborn covered in goo and then next, you’re watching teary-eyed as they skip into kindergarten without even a backward glance or a kiss goodbye. And yet, when you’re into your third hour of Candy Land on a rainy day, time seems to stand still. (If you haven’t played Candy Land with your toddler yet, trust them. The scars never really heal.)




Where did the idea for Science of Parenthood come from?

The “eureka” moment came when Norine’s son, Fletcher, came home from school talking about one of Newton’s laws of force and motion: An object at rest stays at rest unless acted on by an external force.

Says Norine: “That instantly reminded me of Fletcher with his video games. He’d sit on the couch and play games all day if I didn’t confiscate the iPad. I jotted down, Newton’s First Law of Parenting: A child at rest will remain at rest until you want your iPad back. Later, I posted that on Facebook. It got a good response, so I started posting other parenting observations and giving them a math or science twist, like Sleep Geometry Theorem: A child will always sleep perpendicular to any adult laying next to them. Both of these are fan favorites and two of the very few cartoons we pulled from the blog to include in the book.



“As a writer, I’m always looking for new ways to tell stories. And in that eureka moment, it struck me that math and science make fantastic metaphors for telling the universal stories of parenting. Like scientists, we parents are always fumbling in the dark, searching for answers, wondering if we’re on the right track and second-guessing our methods. And because a picture is still worth a thousand words, I knew that these science-y quips would be a lot more popular on social media if they were illustrated. So I called Jessica and asked if she wanted to illustrate a book of these funny observations.

“Jessica was the one who saw that Science of Parenthood could be much bigger than a single book. She saw the potential for a blog and a social media presence and ancillary products. She quickly secured a domain name for us and created a Facebook page and Twitter feed. She began illustrating the observations I had already banked. Two weeks later, we debuted on Facebook; a week after that we rolled out the blog. Now we’re three years in, and along with Science of Parenthood, the book, we have mugs and magnets and posters featuring our images. Earlier this year we published two collections of humorous parenting tweets—The Big Book of Parenting Tweets and The Bigger Book of Parenting Tweets.  

Where can readers find Science of Parenthood?

Science of Parenthood is available as a soft-cover and e-book on Amazon right now.  You can also find it on Barnes and Noble and in other bookstores.

And you can always find Science of Parenthood on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest,and Instagram.

Together Jessica and Norine published The Big Book of Parenting Tweets and The Bigger Book of Parenting Tweets earlier in 2015.
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