Powerful ideas from top nonfiction
Try Blinkist to get the key ideas from 5,500+ bestselling nonfiction titles and podcasts. Listen or read in just 15 minutes.
Start your free trial
Blink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
Listen to the Intro
All Joy and no Fun summary
Jennifer Senior
The Paradox of Modern Parenthood
15 mins
Table of Contents
All Joy and no Fun
summarized in 6 key ideas
Audio & text in the Blinkist app
Key idea 1 of 6
Being a parent is a challenging undertaking; knowing what’s in store, and how to handle it, helps a lot.
Those of us who plan to have children in the near future have a pretty good sense of what it’s going to take, right?
Well, not so fast.
No matter how many baby books you’ve trawled for advice, no matter how many parenting gurus you’ve consulted, you will never be fully prepared to have a child.
For example, you may think you know all the ins and outs of childcare, but there is far more to it than you likely realize. Yes, you know you’ll be sleep-deprived and expected to change dirty diapers – but you’ll have other concerns, too.
For starters, today's parents are burdened with a crippling desire to be perfect. This stems from a surfeit of choice; parents get to choose the number of children they want, when they want have them, what kind of birth they want, how they want to parent them. The baby’s gender is about the only thing left to chance.
You might be thinking, “That’s great!” But, actually, too many options create pressure to do everything exactly right.
Parents want to impress others with the way they raise their family and so feel stressed when they can’t quite live up to their own ideals.
The role of children in the home and in society is changing, too.
Childrearing involves more work than ever before: we haul them to soccer practice and music lessons and all the other extracurricular activities that are often expected of them – and then have to pick them up afterward!
Modern parents usually need more time and money than their parents did. It’s no surprise that stress and exhaustion are common.
The following blinks shed some light on the most challenging aspects of modern parenthood. It should be kept in mind, though, that the advice below applies largely to the US middle-class not to the poor or the elite.
So start off by taking a look at the first difficulty faced by most new parents.
Want to see all full key ideas from All Joy and no Fun?
Key ideas in All Joy and no Fun
More knowledge in less time
Read or listen
Get the key ideas from nonfiction bestsellers in minutes, not hours.
Find your next read
Get book lists curated by experts and personalized recommendations.
Shortcasts New
We’ve teamed up with podcast creators to bring you key insights from podcasts.
What is All Joy and no Fun about?
All Joy and No Fun (2014) is a book about the trials and tribulations of raising kids. Senior examines the challenges of parenting while keeping us cognizant of the pleasures and rewards that come with it.
Best quote from All Joy and no Fun
Becoming a parent is one of the most sudden and dramatic changes in adult life.
—Jennifer Senior
Who should read All Joy and no Fun?
- People planning for parenthood
- Anyone who has children
- Those struggling with the stress of raising children
Categories with All Joy and no Fun
Books like All Joy and no Fun
People ❤️ Blinkist
Sven O.
It's highly addictive to get core insights on personally relevant topics without repetition or triviality. Added to that the apps ability to suggest kindred interests opens up a foundation of knowledge.
Thi Viet Quynh N.
Great app. Good selection of book summaries you can read or listen to while commuting. Instead of scrolling through your social media news feed, this is a much better way to spend your spare time in my opinion.
Jonathan A.
Life changing. The concept of being able to grasp a book's main point in such a short time truly opens multiple opportunities to grow every area of your life at a faster rate.
Renee D.
Great app. Addicting. Perfect for wait times, morning coffee, evening before bed. Extremely well written, thorough, easy to use.
People also liked
Start growing with Blinkist now
26 Million
Downloads on all platforms
4.7 Stars
Average ratings on iOS and Google Play
91%
Of Blinkist members create a better reading habit*
*Based on survey data from Blinkist customers