Thousands of books have examined the effects of parents on their children, but in this look at 21st-century family life, Jennifer Senior asks: what are the effects of children on their parents? Noting how toddlers and teens alike can reshape their parents' marriages, jobs, habits, hobbies, friendships, and their internal senses of self, Senior argues that changes in the last half century have radically altered the roles of today's mothers and fathers, making their mandates at once more complex and far less clear. Drawing from history, sociology, economics, psychology, philosophy, and anthropology, Senior looks at the traditions of parenting, and then takes us into the homes of families nationwide, as moms and dads talk about the pitfalls and the triumphs of parenthood.