Go the F--k to Sleep Guy: You're Terrible at Parenting

It's appalling the way some parents are raising their kids. Just look around: There's that couple letting their children rot their brains with iPhones throughout an entire restaurant meal. Or that dad ripping a tutu off his son for fear it'll turn him gay. Or the mom trying to negotiate with her 3-year-old "as if he is capable of understanding the concept of compromise," Adam Mansbach writes at Salon. Of course, he's the one yelling back and forth over the playground with his daughter "with a flask in (his) back pocket and a lit joint in (his) hand."

"Ultimately, very few people parent their kids in ways that strike anybody else as reasoned, appropriate or sane," the author of Go the F--- to Sleep notes. Parents may like to think they share a "mystical" connection with each other, but in fact there's a lot of judging going on. Really, "we all do the best we can and go with whatever works for us," writes Mansbach. "Developing a critical sensibility about parenting isn’t really about disapproval, it’s about honing your own sensibilities, figuring out how you want to parent." Though "that last sentence is total horsesh--." Click for Mansbach's full column. (More parenting stories.)