These days, I read a lot of mom-oirs – enough to feel justified making up a word to describe the sub-genre clash of parenting book meets memoir. My twins are fifteen months old. They toddle and they’re fickle, irrational, urgent, tiny, and I love them. Just like the subtitle says.
I enjoyed a lot about this book. More daddies wrote for this compilation than I’ve yet seen. This is representative of modern parenting: my own husband is a stay-at-home daddy while I work as a librarian. The stories in this collection are short, so I was able to read several in a sitting or read something completely and fast. They are strikingly literary, well written and meaningful and never overdone. Linguists and professors were a few of the parents who wrote stories for this collection. They waxed thoughtful on their toddlers’ language, cultural and anthropological development between potty training and boo boos. I learned things about their disciplines while relating to their experiences with their children. The contributing parents were intelligent and prescient and loving and imperfect – some of my favorite aspects of a good mom-oir.
Recommended for: people who love toddlers; aspiring mom-oirists and parents who are writers; parents who want to read a book and relate to other loving, funny, smart and imperfect parents.