Even before Covid, parenting was hard. According to physician, writer, and father of three young children, Andrew Bomback, "From day one, parenting can feel like a version of 'we are flying the plane as we build it.'" Bomback investigates the emergence of an immersive, all-in approach to raising children that has made parenting a competitive (and often not very enjoyable) sport. He considers the high costs of commercialized parenting (from the babymoon on), the pressure on mothers to have it all (and do it all), the perils of parenting during a pandemic, and much more. A nephrologist by profession, Bomback shows how being a parent, like being a doctor, has migrated away from a "calling" and toward a "job." We hear what he learned from interviews with other parents as well as stories of his own experiences as a father—the good, the bad, and the two-hour bedtime ritual that ended with his oldest son throwing a Chapstick at his head. As he explores the anxiety that plagues modern parents, he offers both a window and a mirror into how 21st century mothers and fathers are trying to enjoy their time with their children, because "The days are long, but the years are short."