Man vs Child: One Dad's Guide to the Weirdness of Parenting Book Review

I remember the time before my children were born I would read a lot. I would grab a book and spend a few hours sitting down just reading. I loved going on journeys to different worlds and just enjoying the pleasure of reading. Sometimes, I would finish a book in a day or two because I had the time to do it, then my children were born.

Nowadays, the few books I read involve Cats with hats, super hero girls in high schools and the occasional alphabet book. It's not that I do not love reading these books with my children, but sometimes I miss having that "book time" to myself. So when I was asked by fellow dadblogger Doug Moe to review his book "Man vs. Child: One Dad's Guide to the Weirdness of Parenting" (say that ten times fast) I was super excited to read something that I could relate to in a way. I just didn't realize it was going to take over two month (maybe more) to finish his book and review it.

Ok, so maybe I am exaggerating the amount of time it took me to read his book, but I can't lock myself in the bathroom every night to read. I tried and sadly other members of the house do not have the same bladder control as yours truly. I took his book with me when I would take the train to work and have people look at me funny as I laughed out loud. Then there were nights that I would wait until everyone was asleep and try to catch up on a few chapters. Most of these evenings ended with me falling asleep with the book laid out on my chest. Yeah, sometimes reading when you have children is not as easy as it once was.

Man vs. Child: One Dad's Guide to the Weirdness of Parenting is a hilarious take on being a father in today's world. Now while there may be a lot of parenting books out in print right now, not many are written by dads or are directed at dads. When I used to work at a bookstore there would be one book for dads for every ten books for moms. I know times have changed since then, but it still seems like the mom books outnumber the dad books.

So who is Doug Moe and why should you read his book? Good question. Doug Moe is a longtime teacher and performer based at the legendary Upright Citizens Brigade Theater and has appeared in such television shows as Inside Amy Schumer and 30 Rock. That right there should give you a hint about the direction this book is going to take. I mean, when you have chapters named: Man vs. Life: Your fun, Worthless Life without a Child and Man vs. Toddler: Why won't your child just be cool? You know you are going to have a good time.

There are many great sections in the book but a few of my favorites are: Name Your baby Something Awesome, Help my Kids look like a Hobo and It Happened to Me: I Was the Dad in a Mommy Group. We all have that discussion with our significant others about what we are going to name our children and Doug has some great, albeit funny, advice for all the new parents out there. "Don't forget to consider the yellability of the name you choose. You'll be doing a lot of yelling at your kid. "BOB!" is a great yell." This is one of the many gems that Doug has to offer his readers.

As parents, we have all had the dressing dilemma. You know what I am talking about, when your child just wants to dress in certain play clothes or doesn't want to change their clothes. What should you do in this situation? Doug has some great advice on this: "When you have kids, you gotta let them dress crazy. Nothing's sadder to me than a kid in a business suit." I think a business suit would be great if the kid was the Boss Baby and had some good stock tips, but I highly doubt that.

After reading this book I have a few things stuck in my head that will not leave. Every time I use the bathroom I now have Daniel Tiger's potty song in my head. How eerily close his "DillyDally" pajama routine resembles my son's routine. Finally, we all know that our children are in a hurry to grow up, but we all "want them to slow down, stay with you a little longer." We all want our children to stay little and never grow up, but then again, we all want them to grow up and find their way in this world.

Doug Moe's Man vs. Child: One Dad's Guide to the Weirdness of Parenting is now available at bookstores and online. So go out and purchase one for that cool dad or soon-to-be dad you know. If you don't believe me, take actor and comedian Jason Mantzoukas' word:

“A taut, erotic thriller. This is a smart, dark look at the human condition, our strengths and our weaknesses. Doug Moe has done it again. I did not read this book.”

Follow Doug's adventure through parenthood on his blog, Manvchild.com.

Thank you for reading.