Catastrophic Happiness

True Tales from the Front Line of Parenting

• What: Catastrophic Happiness
• When: Before birth to college
• Why: Hilarious, accurate
• Where: Amazon or your local library

Whether you’re dreading another holiday season with kids or looking forward to spending lots of quality family time together, you can’t go wrong with Catastrophic Happiness: Finding Joy in Childhood’s Messy Years from columnist Catherine Newman.

No matter how old your offspring, Newman has been there, done that, and lived to tell about it. These short and sweet chapters about the trials and tribulations of parenting mean you can read a bit between the turkey and pumpkin pie and still come back for more before bed. Her wit and down to earth approach will appeal to almost everyone, whether they have kids or not, but will ring especially true for those of us who still struggle with the daily battles of younger children. (Does it really matter if one child has half a centimeter more room on the couch or drink in a cup?)

I almost fell out of bed I laughed so hard when I read this book. If you want to lighten up the long winter days or simply need an excuse to howl at the truthful absurdity of parenting, don’t hesitate to get your hands on your own copy of Catastrophic Happiness. And it makes a great gift you can pass along if you know anyone else who reads.