A review by breevee
Why Have Kids?: A New Mom Explores the Truth About Parenting and Happiness by Jessica Valenti

4.0

I picked up this book expecting a kind of weighing of pros and cons of parenthood, but instead Valenti examines parenthood and specifically motherhood within its sociopolitical context, revealing that many of the cons of parenting--the demoralizing pressure to be all things to your baby, the assumption that all aspects of your identity and personality must be subsumed into the identity of "mother", the straining and failure of marriages, the taboo regret that one entered motherhood in the first place--are largely the product of societal expectations and messaging, not an innate part of parenthood.

I found this book immensely helpful not just to be aware of the social and systemic problems new parents face, but also to identify some of the abstract and intangible fear that comes with the prospect of parenthood, and the tools to confront and deal with it.