Why "Go the F--- to Sleep" Resonates With Parents

Sleep deprived parents the world over have found a book to which they can relate.  It is not written by Dr. Seuss and it won’t tell you how to become a better parent, but it just might make you laugh hysterically.

Every parent has been there, the baby is up at 2:00 a.m. and there is no sign of sandman gracing the nursery.  You feed the baby, you rock the baby, you sing to the baby, you read to the baby, but the baby just won’t go to sleep.  After a couple of days, or, as was the case with our son, a year, that amount of sleep deprivation can cause one to think some crazy thoughts. 

Now, while many people may have thought it, uttering the phrase, ‘go the f*ck to sleep,’ rarely passes the lips of even the most frustrated parent, but, one man has put it to print.

Since May, Adam Mansbach’s book Go the F*ck to Sleep, has became a viral commodity. For a whole month before it was even published, it was the number one seller on Amazon.com.  It debuted at number one on the New York Times best seller list on June 14th and by June 30th, it had gone international.   

The cats nestle close to their kittens,

The lambs have laid down with the sheep.

You’re cozy and warm in your bed my dear

Please, go the f*ck to sleep.

While the language is enough to make your ears bleed and to some it is considered morally reprehensible, vulgar and abusive, it has sold over 450,000 copies within one month of publication and the Youtube video with Samuel Jackson has gone viral.

All this success because of a random rant on Facebook “Lookout for my forthcoming children’s book, Go the _____to Sleep” Mansbach made one sleepless night with his daughter Vivian.Mansbach, the author of several novels but this was his first venture into the illustrated children’s genre, not intended for children to read or parents to read to their children.  

"Initially the audience was me and my wife," Mansbach told the Associated Press. "It captures the frustration of being in a room with a kid and feeling like you may actually never leave that room again, that you may spend the rest of your life in that dark room, trying to get your kid to go to sleep."

To many parents he is a hero; their thanks to him for making them feel less like failures and more like part of a club of sleep deprived parents who have tried everything only to acquiesced to the whims of their stubborn child night after night. 

The book definitely pokes fun at the indulgences parents allow to their children when their resolve is low.  The fatal error of the parent in the book is that they become equals with the child, allowing the child to bargain for more time, more stories, another glass of milk and trips to the potty. 

The success of the books seems to indicate that parents are looking for someone to relate to about their anger and frustration, or at least need an outlet.  Parenting, especially with infants and toddlers, can be an isolating and parents need to be reminded that they are not alone in what they experience.  Anger and frustration are valid feelings, the experience of which should not elicit thoughts of epic failure in the role of parent. 

Parents can better laugh at themselves when they know that other parents have been in the same position and, in this way, it takes some of the pressure off of trying to be the perfect parent that miraculously gets the child to bed by 7:30 p.m. nightly.

This book says to parents, there is no standard of perfection to which you must hold yourself.  It opens an avenue for dialogue that many parents felt ashamed to admit was necessary. With a been there done that kind of attitude, it makes it easier to find the humor and humility in the situation when, at 4 a.m., your baby still won’t go the f*ck to sleep.

While the G-version isn’t out yet, there are plenty of good night books to read to your stubborn child who won’t go to sleep—Mem Fox’s Time For Bed, Dr. Seuss’s Sleep Book or Margaret Wise Brown’s Big Red Barn.  Save this book for a baby shower gag gift or for those times when you just need something to make you laugh. It is a funny read, especially when you are really tired.