Raising a Riot

Raising a Riot
by Alfred Toombs

Raising a Riot is about a father who is caring for his three children while his wife is away from the family. It's a true story written by a former newspaperman who had no idea how tough it would be to take care of a home and children by himself.

I read the Reader's Digest condensed version of this book and enjoyed it because it shows the job mothers do staying at home with their children while their husbands are at work. In Raising a Riot, the roles are reversed. The mother went away on the doctor's orders so the father goes to the family the cottage in Maryland to care for their children -- ages ten, seven, and four. His experiences are funny, even though Mr. Toombs sometimes found it very frustrating.

I was drawn to the story because the title sounded interesting, and it was. The story caught my attention further because it has kids in a home with a stay-at-home parent, and I'm a kid in a home with a stay-at-home parent. My mom stays at home with us, but I think it would be funny to imagine what it would be like if my dad (who is also a newspaperman) stayed at home with us.

I didn't like how his children were demanding, and didn't help with work unless their father made a system (and even with those systems they didn't help for very long).

I think the author wrote this book because it would help husbands understand what their wives are going through. I'm not a wife myself, but it helps me to understand what my mom does.

Now adays a stay-at-home dad is not uncommon, but at the time this book was written (the mid 50s), it would have been unusual. But even though it was written about sixty years ago, I think it can compare to people nowadays, because no matter what time in history, moms are moms, kids are kids, and dads are dads.