The Official Blog to Dysfunctional Parenting
Welcome to the Official Blog to Dysfunctional Parenting. As the authors of the book “The Official Guide to Dysfunctional Parenting”, we are struck by how many of the ridiculous scenarios and quotes in our book spark people’s memories of their own experiences. Some of those are from their own childhood and some are, as they sheepishly admit, from their own parenting mishaps. So we welcome you to step into the confessional, pull up a therapist’s couch, and share.
So if you’d like to share with us your own dysfunctional parenting experience email us at dysfunctionalparenting@gmail.com. We’ll take a look at your email and post it if we aren’t too offended, which frankly is pretty hard to do.
–Gregory Nemec and Frederick Muench
It’s about time somebody wrote a book like this. I was getting the feeling that I was the only one doing everything wrong. Kids have way too much power these days.
fattyarbuckle
April 18, 2008
I loved the book and planning to give to perfect grandparents as gifts! You missed a couple of really good discipline moves by loving parents….i.e. the biter…..the parent bites him back! Sent to sleep without dinner. Shamed in front of friends. “Gerry, you can’t go out and play because you wet your bed again! said Mom speaking to teen son.
dysfunctionalparenting
April 24, 2008
Original Entry:
I had been pretty bad as a kid and was refusing to eat my dinner. So my mother got incredibly angry an locked me out of the house (it was africa and pretty warm)I then ran through the back door. Actually i think this post wpuld have sounded alot better if i told it in person. Oh well.
Edited Version:
If we may take some liberty in revising this story it may be more of a dysfunctional parent moment if…. I was refusing to eat my dinner because I objected to the way the veal was being treated in their pens and asked for something with whole grains and my mother got incredibly angry because she has always hated vegetarians for being such wimps so she locked me out of the house- I then proceeded to run through the back door. To make matters worse she didn’t even film it for the NY Giants scouting team crushing my dreams of becoming a linebacker. Good story….perfect example of how the punishment doesn’t always fit the crime.
dysfunctionalparenting
April 28, 2008
I have a daycare and one of my families is either the poster family for the book or qualified to write the sequel. Here are a few examples…
To their little girl who is in the process of potty training but still has BM accidents in her pull-up: “If you poop in your pull-up, a rat will come in there and bite your butt.” (Hmmm. Any wonder she’s constipated?)
“How did grandma die?” “Well, she went to sleep last night and just didn’t wake up.” and then are frustrated that their 3-year-old won’t go to bed at night.
“If you don’t keep your room clean, bugs will come in there and eat your dolls”
And my favorite…I am talking to mom on the phone at almost 10 o’clock at night. I hear her yell at her 2-and-a-half-year-old, “Sally, if you don’t get into that bed and go to sleep RIGHT NOW, I am turning off that TV in your room!”
I’d give her this book, but I’m afraid she’d actually use it as a How-To Book.
dysfunctionalparenting
May 12, 2008
This is Fred.. one of the authors. I am really wondering how it is possible for a parent to write a blog! Between work, house chores and the kids I can’t find the time to wipe myself. In our sequel one of the entries will clearly be… start a blog..write about your kids instead of spending time with them. Of course those of you who are psychologically savvy are seeing the true underlying meaning of this post….Fred feels really guilty for not updating the blog so he is blaming his kids for his inability to manage his time. Also a few recent reviews are below.
Although the book may be crass and un-PC at times, we still found plenty of reasons to chuckle. The authors inject humor into just about every aspect of parenting….then they give examples.
Chicago Tribune
Is your parenting style a bit too, shall we say, unorthodox for those standard Stepford parenting how-to books? You’re not alone. Enter The Official Guide to Dysfunctional Parenting. Written by two dads, it’s filled with simple suggestions that shouldn’t be taken too seriously (to put it mildly). We think it could be just what you need to relax a little—and laugh a lot—this Father’s Day.
Know a parent with a great sense of humor? Forward this.
IVillage
dysfunctionalparenting
June 16, 2008
A Comment to me from a frustrated mom about her 9-year-old daughter who is reading at a 13-year-old level and begging to attend science camp: “I don’t know WHAT her problem is! I do her hair so nice before school and every day she takes it out at school. She hates ribbons in her hair, she won’t wear any dresses, and she is just wasting money because she refuses to wear all those cute pink shirts I bought for her. I told her how much it costs for me to keep buying her clothes that she doesn’t wear, but she just doesn’t care. She doesn’t think of anyone but herself!” Hmmm… Another mom to me…Talking to her son, “We made treats for school today, didn’t we, Johnny?” Aside to me, “Don’t worry, I made the treats. I wouldn’t let Johnny help because, well, you know how they would look if he did.”
dysfunctionalparenting
August 6, 2008
Nice review in Time out NY
Clinical psychologist Fred Muench offers many useful tips in his book, The Official Guide to Dysfunctional Parenting, including nuggets of knowledge like the brilliant and obvious lesson that a child can’t cry or complain if his mouth is full of doughnuts. Greg Nemec provides hilarious illustrated accompaniment.
Also recent article:
http://www.armytimes.com/entertainment/books/gns_books_parenthumor_072308/
dysfunctionalparenting
August 6, 2008
This is such a great site. I think if we all look back not only to our own childhoods but to how we have raised our own children, we will all find some level of dysfunction. If someone does not see any dysfunction in their own home, I would bet they would be labeled the most dysfunctional.
We have all done and said things that thank God we can look back on and laugh. One of my favorite momwnts actually came from my brother in laws mouth one day while all of our kids were playing in the yard. His son who was about 4 at the time ran into the street where the older ones were playing hockey. When he told him to get out of the road, my nephew responded that it wasn’t fair. My brother in law proceeded to yell at the top his lungs:” WELL, I DON’T THINK IT WOULD BE FAIR IF YOU WERE HIT BY A CAR AND I HAD TO SPEND ALL OF MY MONEY ON A COFFIN FOR YOU!”
I think you could have multiple volumes of this book with reader contributions…
halfpint42592
March 19, 2009