The Lunch-Box Chronicles: Notes from the Parenting Underground

by Marion Winik

Child Magazine Best Book of the Year

"For me, parenting is like dieting.  Every day, I wake up filled with resolve and good intentions, perfection in view, and every day I somehow stray from the path.  The difference is with dieting, I usually make it to lunch. . . ."

   With the candor and often hilarious outlook that have made her a beloved commentator on NPR, Marion Winik takes the reader on an unforgettable journey through modern parenthood, with all of its attendant anxieties and joys.
        A single mother with two small boys, Winik knows exactly what she's talking about, from battles over breakfast and bedtime to the virtues of pre-packaged food and weightier issues like sex education and sibling rivalry. Part memoir and part survival guide, The Lunch-Box Chronicles is an engaging philosophy of parenting from a staunch realist, who knows that kids and their parents both will inevitably fall far short of perfection, and that a "good enough mom" really is, in fact, good enough.

Genres: Parenting, Nonfiction, Memoir, Essays, Humor, Biography

240 pages, Paperback

First published March 31, 1998

About the author

Longtime All Things Considered commentator Marion Winik is the author of First Comes Love, The Glen Rock Book of the Dead and seven other books. The Baltimore Book of the Dead is forthcoming from Counterpoint this fall. Her award-winning column on BaltimoreFishbowl.com appears monthly, and her essays have been published in The New York Times Magazine, The Sun and elsewhere. She is the host of The Weekly Reader radio show and podcast and reviews books for Newsday, People, and Kirkus Review. She is a board member of the National Book Critics Circle and a professor in the MFA program at the University of Baltimore. More info at marionwinik.com.

Reviews

[Judith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Initially I thought I liked this more than her newer one that I read, The Baltimore Book of the Dead. That one actually had more substance. I enjoyed The Lunch Box etc. but then it just seemed less important but maybe it’s because I’m so much older and my kids grown up much more so than hers. Both books are very short chapters and this one just 229 pages with big print so you can read it very fast.

[Carole Duff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dial back twenty-thirty years, and this was just about my life as a single parent—with less humor and more guilt. Yes, Marion, “To be a parent is a form of ongoing aspiration.” I wish I’d read Winik’s Erma Bombeck-memoir hybrid book years ago, but I discovered it’s never too late to laugh at yourself and your circumstances, and to forgive.

[Sydney Mason]

DNF

[Sonya Feher · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing is funny and descriptive and, not surprisingly, reads like NPR commentary. Stand out essays for me were: “Our Bodies, Their Selves” about breastfeeding, nudity, and how children getting older changes the physical and visual relationship between mother and child; “Sex and Drugs and Good Advice” explores how parents can share the experience of who they were and what they’ve done while teaching kids what’s safe – do you reveal everything? What’s hypocritical as a message vs. information too mature for kids to process? “The Birthday Syndrome” about birthday celebrations for kids vs. parents questions how we observe ourselves and whether it should occur in private or with community.

[Mishele · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a quick filler while I was waiting to get another book. It was perfect for that and even better than I was expecting it to be. This is a light, humorous and quick book about parenting from the perspective of a widowed mother. Her story was touching and at times shocking, which was a surprising delight! This isn't a run-of-the-mill suburban mom. She has some stories to tell, but is only able to touch on them in this book. Maybe she has more time to get into it all in another book?

[Laurie]

Single parents or those with blended families (Winik, widowed mother of two sons, dates a man with two daughters) might like reading this book, but otherwise I don't think it stands out from the pack too much. There are also several points in this book that are not at all clear if you haven't read Winik's earlier memoirs (I haven't, had to look up her bio to understand a few things). One point of interest is that her boyfriend in this book is Texas food writer Robb Walsh.

For humorous parenting memoirs I recommend Operating Instructions and Waiting for Birdy.

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book didnt really hold my attention. I was dissapointed the writer didnt at least try to delve deeper into some of her actions or some of the subjects. She skirts by the deeper meaning of when she smacks her child, or when she starts dating a new man.
I hate not finishing a book I have started, but didnt feel any more satisfied after I had completed the book.
Would I reccomend it? Probably not, theres so much other far superior books that actually have some depth.

[Tracy O · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the only books I've ever read by a real single parent (and, by that I mean someone who's parenting without another parent - not someone who is divorced or separated). It certainly doesn't stop at tales of being a single parent, but I did appreciate that.

These are short pieces and the writing is honest, interesting, funny and liberal.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part of my Random Reading Challenge.

This book made me realize that when I want to scream and strangle my kids, I'm not alone. Other mothers feel that same way, and have even tougher struggles than I do.

This book had many insightful pages, and quotes about raising children, marriage, death, life, and beyond. It really was a lot of fun.

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some honest glimpses into parenting nightmares, lots of recognition for the paradoxical boxes that we get ourselves into, the joy and the profound boredome, all that good stuff. And she's funny as hell.

[Asher · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed a peek into the life of a mother with two young sons. Funny.

[Mary Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved Marion Winik's wild story and her writing: candid, funny and smart. Insightful about raising, loving and being driven crazy by kids - and a very interesting life story so far.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

this is the first book i read by her, and enjoyed it. whether you have small children or grown ones, you may like this.

[Sheena Gossett · Rating 5 out of 5]

I suck at being a parent. But apparently there are others just like me. This book, though 20+ years old is so relatable.

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 3 out of 5]

Liberal parenting.

[DH · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this a long time ago when the kids were little - very humorous and enjoyable!