To introduce you to the latest "Tiger Mom" parenting guru?

[JoanRanger]

It's too hilarious to NOT share:

www.nytimes.com/2014/03/16/books/review/dalton-conleys-parentology.html?_r=0

[ElleMcFearsome]

at "jazz parenting"! (Sorry only got to paragraph 2 before I started spluttering. Will read the rest now...)

[Ubik1]

His brand, he says, is more like “jazz parenting,” an “improvisational approach

Oh.my.god

[ElleMcFearsome]

It's wrong, I know, But I want to read that book. Money well spent to get a good laugh?

[Ubik1]

It's just...just...where do you begin with these people?

[Ubik1]

The family travels the world, and it will be hard for many to chuckle knowingly at Conley’s concession, in his chapter on the anti-­allergenic benefits of pets, that “maybe we went a bit too far when we went to the animal markets in Jakarta in the midst of the bird flu scare and purchased a pet monkey, snake and fruit bats (which we later set free upon leaving the island of Java).”

This has to be a parody parenting manual. It can't be real. It must be a joke.

[ElleMcFearsome]

IMO, you say "aww, bless" and it'll all probably work itself out.

Most parents have at least one thing that most people would be about don't they? Hey, my DDs (16 and 18) still basically believe that I have 'magic hands' than can fix headaches (started, obviously when they were 5 ish and the calpol wasn't working). That said, I haven't felt the need to write a book about it

Really loving the difference in names though. One gets a single letter and the other gets 8 words? No issues being stored up there, oh no!

[TheTerribleBaroness]

Um, is it really NOT a spoof? It's actually real? It is, isn't it? I looked on Amazon.

[nicename]

This has really tickled me! So many oddballs...

[fuzzpig]

Did anyone else find themselves checking their phone to see if it was April 1st

[Ubik1]

Ach well - never a dull moment in that family, I suppose

[TheTerribleBaroness]

It's real. I googled the children's names.

[maggiemight]

Giving your DCs unusual names might help them get ahead in the arts or media world but I would think it might have the opposite effect if you were in engineering for example.
And going to animal markets in Jakarta is nuts, different if you lived there but taking DCs from the western world to a different climate and exposing them to unusual viruses etc seems nuts.

The publicity he has for his family, though, might help them all get a foot in the door somewhere.

[MmeMorrible]

Not surprised he is now divorced. It's awful, like he is playing with his children's lives and happiness by treating them as lab monkeys in his experiments. I don't think many mothers would stand by and let that happen...

[elQuintoConyo]

Started out laughing, ended up feeling sorry for the guy

I have met such loons people. Smile and nod, smile and nod.

[MistressDeeCee]

maybe we went a bit too far when we went to the animal markets in Jakarta in the midst of the bird flu scare and purchased a pet monkey, snake and fruit bats (which we later set free upon leaving the island of Java)

Where's my gun?!!

he probably drove his wife nuts. She bailed out - smart move.

[Balaboosta]

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tikki_Tikki_Tembo

A cautionary tale about giving children different length names.

[fuzzpig]

Yes, and to think I felt terribly guilty because DD only has one middle name and DS has two. Pales into insignificance next to this guy I've probably still ruined their lives though

As for the 'improvisation' parenting. Well that's what we all do - muddle through - usually by asking MN :o

[Gileswithachainsaw]

Ha ha ha

I hate all these specified parenting strategies. Either gives people excuses as to not bother with disciplining their kids or to refuse to try something because they want to be able to say "yes we did----"

Like it's a status.

This ones the funniest one I've ever read

[mummytime]

I wasn't surprised he was divorced by the end.

I wanted to prosecute him for buying those animals and then letting them "free". Does he have any idea just how much of a totally ignorant, arrogant fool that one act shows him to be? Probably not because he hasn't read the research study.

I really hope it is a spoof.

[softlysoftly]

Erm its funny but if you were actually his kids its probably less so, he's treating them like an experiment, good on his wife I say!

[sebsmummy1]

I have to say I think these 'parenting gurus' really should STFU until they get their kids to about 35 and then we can all swap notes.

[BlackeyedSusan]

I like improvising some parts of parenting...but don't most of us do that anyway? try one technique then try another if that does not work.

the rest of it sounds wacky. really wacky

[NurseyWursey]

He is a wild and crazy guy

Yeah... sure..

[cory]

he sounds like one of those horribly embarrassing fathers that just have to keep drawing attention to themselves all the time and don't notice their dc's friends sniggering in the background