Youch! Mom-Turned-Author Takes 'Fictional' Swipe At Over-The-Top Parenting In Suburbia

Oh no, she didn't!

Pleasanton mother Siah Fried, 40, compiled her anecdotal essays of kids, school, scouts and sports — in short, all things holy in the suburbs — in her new book set in the fictional town of "Swankville."

But now the swank has hit the fan, and her irked neighbors are fuming over what they say is a thinly veiled critique of their parenting. 

"It's kind of a pointless attack," said one parent, who read the book but did not want to be named and further dragged into the fray. 

But Fried insists her book is fiction and its point was to spotlight what she sees as a troubling trend of overly meddlesome parents.

"And we're all doing it," said Fried, who is a public-health educator at Las Positas College in Livermore and founder of Healthy Starts Makes Healthy Hearts, a childhood-obesity prevention program.  

The newly published hot book, entitled "Tales From Swankville — The Town May Be Fictional But The Problem Is For Real," is a breezy, 20-chapter read of various trials and tribulations of childrearing in an upscale town of overbearing, competitive parents.

Swankville's main character, Sasha, is a mother of three who struggles with rivaling Girl Scout cookie booths, one-upmanship of kids' Halloween costumes, dance-to-near-death recitals, and the very likely possibility that her toddler accidentally killed the neighbor's pet rabbit.  

Fried, herself a mother of three, jabs at what she calls "bad parenting," and is well aware that her book is causing a ruckus among residents in Pleasanton's Birdland subdivision.

"Oh, did you notice?" she half-joked, referring to the anti-Swankville banner covering the garage of her neighbors directly across the street.

"Swankville" detractors have also taken to the Internet, lobbing harsh, one-star reviews on the book's Amazon page, deriding the author and her writings as evil, vindictive, gossipy and hypocritical. 

Fried and her editor, Georgie Ikuma, a Castro Valley parent and writer, admit they were caught off guard by the local firestorm, particularly since the book is only about two weeks old. And both insist the tales and characters are fictional composites.

Over-the-top parenting is not unique to Pleasanton, and "Swankville" represents "Suburbia, U.S.A.," Fried said.

Fried's gist is that today's parents, who are trying to do well by their children, may be damaging them instead, by pushing competitive sports at young ages, private lessons, tutors and a boondoggle of extra-curricular activities. 

The effects are borne out, she says, with a rise in stressed-out kids, sports injuries, eating disorders and general nastiness among peers.

"My parents ... that generation did not push too hard," said Ikuma, 42. "Not every kid got a trophy. And parents didn't complain."

"I know my parents didn't fight my battles," Fried said. "But the ante has been upped by this generation."

Fried does have supporters, however, with several Amazon reviewers praising "Swankville" as an insightful portrayal of pushy parenting.

"It was a thought-provoking book for sure, with some nice humor mixed in," writes a fan.

Fried said she has heard from moms and dads, including two past presidents of local PTAs, who say the book is dead-on. 

"Tales From Swankville" is available through online retailer Amazon, or can be uploaded at $3.99 on the Kindle.