Hey you! Were you raised by WOLVES?!
I was asked by the Parent Bloggers Network if I’d like a chance to review Were You Raised by Wolves? Clues to the Mysteries of Adulthood by Christie Mellor. It sounded like a fun read so I said yes.
I was not disappointed at all.
The book is mainly aimed at people in their early 20s who are ready to leave home and forge a life of their own. Ideally, parents will teach their kids how to navigate things like how to clean your home, how to scrub a toilet, and that you shouldn’t show up at a dinner party empty-handed and salivating over free food. However, if you’ve missed out on some of the finer etiquette points or if you were raised by a neat freak who did everything for you, this book is a helpful little guide.
It’s not a fussy etiquette book, with all the delicate little frou-frou things that are important to high society folks or royalty - it’s just straight-forward basic survival. It teaches you how to avoid being the obnoxious “I’m going to be everyone’s best friend” person in the office when you just started working there last week, how to partake in a little alcohol without being the falling-down drunk everyone talks about, and how to make your bed properly since your Mom won’t be coming to your apartment to do it for you every morning.
At my ripe old age (ha) I knew most of the information in the book already, some from my mother and some from life experience. However, even I got a few tips here and there (I wish I had known about mayo taking care of water marks on wood five years ago, my poor table) and it’s perfect reading for anyone who is ready to leave home.
In fact, it might even be a good idea to make it required reading before anyone is allowed to move out, just to make sure all the bases are covered!