Grow Up: Becoming the Parent Your Kids Deserve

Bishop (Unfu*k Yourself) doesn’t pull any punches (or stint on colorful language) in this tough-talking guide to working through personal trauma to become a better parent. According to Bishop, “most people get stuck in the backwash of their past traumas and dogmas which then become the framework for how we raise our children”; however, since no one is “a direct product of [their] past,” but rather an “expression of what you have come to believe as true about all that past,” those frameworks can be changed. Bishop’s advice involves taking a long, hard look at one’s childhood, letting go of blame (“the catalyst for keeping you tied to what has been”), and offering compassion to one’s parents. Elsewhere, he discusses the importance of passing down values of love, forgiveness, and integrity by living them out. Bishop successfully distills his wisdom into incisive and punchy lessons (“Drawing a straight line between the pain of then and the life you have now is over. It has to be or the life you have will always be tainted by the one you believe you had”), and those who don’t mind his salty prose (“Dude, someone shit in the electric cooking pot of your life”) will learn plenty. Parents seeking a new approach should give this a go. (Sept.)