Small Animals

Parenthood in the Age of Fear

By: Kim Brooks

Narrated by: Kim Brooks

This program includes a bonus interview with the author.

One morning, Kim Brooks made a split-second decision to leave her four-year old son in the car while she ran into a store. What happened would consume the next several years of her life and spur her to investigate the broader role America’s culture of fear plays in parenthood. In Small Animals, Brooks asks: Of all the emotions inherent in parenting, is there any more universal or profound than fear? Why have our notions of what it means to be a good parent changed so radically? In what ways do these changes impact the lives of parents, children, and the structure of society at large? And what, in the end, does the rise of fearful parenting tell us about ourselves?

Fueled by urgency and the emotional intensity of Brooks’s own story, Small Animals is a riveting examination of the ways our culture of competitive, anxious, and judgmental parenting has profoundly altered the experiences of parents and children. In her signature style - by turns funny, penetrating, and always illuminating - which has dazzled millions of fans and been called "striking" by the New York Times Book Review and "beautiful" by the National Book Critics Circle, Brooks offers a provocative, compelling portrait of parenthood in America and calls us to examine what we most value in our relationships with our children and one another.

©2018 Kim Brooks (P)2018 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"Part memoir, part history, part documentary, part impassioned manifesto...it might be the most important book about being a parent that you will ever read." (Emily Rapp Black, New York Times best-selling author of The Still Point of the Turning World)

"Kim Brooks's moving narration is the perfect vehicle for the drama surrounding her arrest for a momentary lapse in judgement...Brooks's lyrical writing and largely dispassionate narration will draw parents into this larger dynamic and restore their freedom to do what they believe is best as parents." (AudioFile Magazine)

"Small Animals interrogates how we weigh risk as parents, how we judge one another's parenting and what the costs might be - not just to parents, but to children, too - of a culture of constant surveillance." (New York Times Book Review)

alternative look

This book presents an alternative look at practices in parenting. Parents (and others) have the best intentions for children. If we come to that understanding before judgement, conversational walls can be avoided and understanding/support will be created. Although (on the negative) this book can often come off as whiney. Perceptive is important for all sides of the conversation. This book vouched loudly for 1 chosen perspective once again. Although it was the alternative viewpoint, It is all the more important to give value to each side while coming to an understanding of a personal parenting situation.

Cover is good some of the story is captivating.

I enjoyed the book and recommended it to friends but what is a really cool story of a personal parental experience get a bit deep into public policy later in the book. I agree with the authors perspectives but the discussion of public policy and how we might have gotten their is pretty blah compared to her compelling personal story of the insanity of public policy and the fears of others intruding on our lives. We really need to learn to leave others alone to make their own decisions based on their own risk tolerance. Terrible what government put this lady thru. We need a way to remove prosecutors that fail to use appropriate discretion in pursuit of political ends rather than anything related to justice. One invasive busy body can cause a lot of trouble for an innocent working mom.

Didn’t want it to end

This book is incredible for any parent at any stage of their parenthood. Kim feels like your inner thoughts intertwined with talking to your best friend. Such an honest, funny, raw & amazing book, I couldn’t put it down. READ IT!

This explains a lot

Kids need space to be self reliant. Well written; well read. Thought provoking. Recommend for book groups and parent groups.

Like hitting the pause button on the neurotic state we’ve found ourselves in as mothers. MUST READ!

Finally someone says what we’ve all been thinking and wondering in the deep recesses if our instinctual parental souls. will be buying a copy of this book to give to all my new Mom friends. A very worthwhile perspective to consider as we all blindly navigate the passages of parenthood and pointedly stop to consider the effect some of our FEARS (irrational or otherwise) may be - no - definitely ARE having on our children as we prepare or worse, handicap them for real world adulthood.

Life Changing

I highly recommend this audiobook. I could relate so much to the author’s anxiety since motherhood. This made me question where my fears stem from and want to scream to all my friends that we need to find a better way. It has made me reevaluate myself as a parent and my perception of risk. I really appreciated the author’s openness and honesty throughout a dreadful experience. I’ll recommend this to all my parenting friends.

Fascinating & Frustrating in equal measure

To be honest, I really liked this book and I also frequently swore aloud at the author while listening to it. I don’t know if I’ve ever had a similarly conflicted response to a piece of media.

The information that Brooks conveys seems carefully researched and considered, timely, and important for any parent in the modern age. It also reads like it was written by an overly anxious young mother with an English Lit. degree, which is precisely what Brooks tells us she is. I can’t pan this book because it’s heartfelt and authentic, but neither can I wholeheartedly recommend it because it made me desperately wish she had Cher’s character from Moonstruck standing next to her, ready to scream “Snap out of it!”

If there was a way to edit out all of her personal anecdotes and keep the reporting, interviews, and statistics, I’d pay for this book all over again.

Want to know why so many parents are wacko?

As kids, we ran around. Jumped off things. Wandered through the woods. Climbed trees. Played ball in the street. All sorts of things where we could have been hurt. And we all survived and look back with some degree of joy and nostalgia on our childhoods.

Yet, as parents ourselves, so many of us are complete wackos. Hovering over our kids. Cramming activities into their days like we’re running their campaigns for office. Denying them so many of the simple things we enjoyed. I wanted to know why.

In this book, Kim Brooks does a remarkable job explaining why so many 21st Century parents have lost their minds. I’m so sorry she had to survive such an awful ordeal to take up the task but I’m glad she did.

The only parenting book you need to read!

Really enjoyed this book. I thought it was very well-researched and put together, informative without being boring.

Required Reading

I cannot recommend this book enough. It has put so much of what I have been feeling into words when I could not.