Parenting for the modern world

I’ve read one of memoir by Stefanie Wilder-Taylor (and I have one more in my queue), but this book, Gummi Bears Should Not Be Organic, focuses much more on parenting than the last (I’m Kind of a Big Deal). It’s funnier, too, in my opinion. That might just be because I can relate more to evil children who won’t sleep than to driving around celebrities in a limo.

“I need friends who understand my limitations and have lowered their expectations. They get that although I said I’d be willing to go to an art opening on Saturday night, by the time the weekend rolls around I can only muster up enough energy to watch The Voice and eat a bowl of cereal. I need friends who understand that my version of dressing up is putting on special-occasion flip-flops. Yeah, bitch, they’re sparkly and fabulous, yet they can be worn to wash the car!”

Wilder-Taylor has three girls, the younger two are twins, and her parenting style boils down to just trying to keep her head above water. She writes about how intense she was about parenting her first child, and then when her twins were born premature and she had a two year old at home, she basically went into survival mode. Now she’s trying to be a good mom, wife and still a human being with friends (although they all have kids, too). Her writing is funny and (sometimes painfully) honest. I think anyone with kids can easily relate to how judged she feels at times by other moms, and how she tries very hard not to judge others, who are obviously trying their best, as well.