Sh*tty Mom: The Parenting Guide for the Rest of Us
Good Fit
- Tired young parents fed up with the pressure to be perfect
- Readers who enjoy dark humour and satire
- Anyone who likes sharing the hard and funny sides of parenting with friends — as a gift book
- Those looking for a light book you can open at any chapter
Not a Fit
- Readers seeking serious, evidence-based parenting advice
- Those sensitive to jokes about child safety — some chapter titles are deliberately provocative
- Readers who dislike crude language and irony
The book announces its tone on the first page: an epigraph from Roseanne — if the kids are still alive at the end of the day, I've done my job — then a legal note that the book is intended purely for humour, with a parenthetical joke that being a sh*tty mom is one thing, but blaming us for your sh*tty parenting is quite another. It tells readers plainly how to take the book: as satire, not instructions.
The introduction portrays babies as small enemies who want everything you have right now, wreck your abs, your sex life and your sleep, want your dog sent to the pound, and phone each other every morning to plot new ways of getting the family in trouble with the police. The technique of absurd exaggeration works, capturing a tired parent's inner monologue with great accuracy. The book's promise: parenting with «only 40% effort» without anyone noticing.
The «Are You a Sh*tty Mom?» quiz is one of the most memorable moments: would you trade a bit of your child's happiness for an extra hour of sleep? Does the fever have to hit 38°C before you keep them home from school? At the playground, are you the mum playing with her child or the one on the bench texting? Three or more yeses make you a sh*tty mom; all yeses make you an idol. It is funny and, for many parents, oddly reassuring.
Chapter 1 declares that a long car journey with children is «a hundred thousand times worse than you think» and offers «solutions»: cancel the trip and get a neighbourhood nerd to set up Skype for your mother-in-law, teach the child to pee by the roadside, and when you say «Hit your sister once more and I'll turn this car around», actually turn it around. That last tip, beneath the joke, expresses a real parenting truth — follow through on what you say. The book is at its best in moments like this.
Chapter 2 treats making an important phone call while home with a child as a military operation: lock the doors, prepare distractions, bribe with sugar and, if necessary, pitch to a client from inside the bedroom wardrobe among the winter blankets. The observation that children, «like animals sensing an earthquake», sense the crucial moment is very funny. But some later chapter titles — such as how to leave the baby in the car while popping into the shop for two minutes — may feel disturbing even as satire.
The book is tied to an American context (Disney World, babysitters, day care). It is not for anyone seeking serious advice, but it is a light, honest book that reminds «imperfect» parents, with a laugh, that they are not alone.
- 47 short chapters of lists, quizzes and joke-filled notes
- Absurd exaggeration and dark humour are the main stylistic tools
- Real parenting observations sometimes hide behind the jokes
- A «for humour purposes only» disclaimer opens the book
An American mother's humorous but more considered take on parenting challenges — reviewed on our site
Tackles the same everyday challenges with serious, practical strategies — reviewed on our site
The second chapter describes making an important phone call at home with a child as a military operation: lock the doors, prepare a distraction, bribe with sweets and, if need be, hide in the bedroom wardrobe among the winter quilts and give the client a sales presentation. The observation that children sense the important moment «like animals that feel an earthquake coming» is very funny.
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