I’ll admit – straight up – I’m not a
parent, and never will be. What I am is a very-nearly-lifetime aunt and
great-aunt (I was 7½ when my first nephew was born, so I barely remember a time
I wasn’t an aunt).
So, watching my siblings raise 10 children,
and THEIR children raise 11 children (with another on the way), has given me
some insight into parenthood. Not to mention the realisation that it’s not like
many parenting books say it is. Seriously, some of the titles and covers just
make me nauseous – they are SO saccharine, I can feel my teeth rot in my gums.
Parenting is hard work (ok, they say that);pregnancy
can totally suck (and resemble those scenes from the Alien movies, when the
alien rips its way out of people’s chests); childbirth is still risky (and can
be life-threatening); and, children have personalities before they’re born so a
large part of being a parent is figuring out how to work WITH them… And, yes,
there is a lot of joy, too…
In honour of the hopefully-soon (the sooner
the better for the mother) arrival of the latest great-niephling (shorthand for
niece / nephew / sibling), I found these five books that rip the rose-tinted
glasses off parenthood, and tell it like it is… And, hopefully, make real people
feel like they’re normal when they struggle with this whole parenting thing…
NB: a lot of the ‘humorous’ parenting books
do seem to attract wildly different opinions. Some think they’re 5-stars, best
parenting book ever!; while others wonder why they were published. I’ll leave
you to form your own opinions.
Honourable mention:
- Balance is a crock, sleep is for the weak : an indispensable guide to surviving working motherhood / Amy Eschliman and Leigh Oshirak
- It gets easier! --and other lies we tell new mothers / Claudine Wolk
