What Happy Parents Do: Ninety-Three Cents and a Little Humpty Dumpty–The Loving Little Ritual of a Child-Proof Marriage by Carol J. Bruess
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Yes, I didn’t really like this book. The style is too cutesy for my taste (text in multiple colors, silhouette pictures of happy couples, the orange ribbon bookmark).
It’s set up with suggestions from real parents for keeping the romantic fires burning followed by endorsements by the professionals (and a lot of quoting of John Gottman). I found the professional statements to be patronizing and, in some circumstances, unnecessarily alarmist. Like in the section about yelling in front of your kids. Yes, yelling in front of one’s kids isn’t good. I doubt anyone would argue that. But warning about increases in babies’ blood pressure when their parents fight isn’t the same thing as offering support for those wishing to not yell in front of their kids. Does telling smokers that their health is at risk get them to quit smoking? Clearly not. It’s one piece, but it’s not the one thing that’s going to effect a lasting change in their behavior, especially since it’s a pretty universally accepted fact at this point rather than new information.
And the section with the list of euphemisms for the marital act and Mom’s and Dad’s genitals? Yeah, I found that kind of disturbing.
Imperfect Happiness 
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