Motherhood Smotherhood
By JJ Keith
Genre: Nonfiction, Parenting
What's the first thing a woman does when she thinks she
might be pregnant? She Googles. And it goes downhill from there. While the
internet is full of calming and cheerily supportive articles, it's also
littered with hyper-judgmental message boards and heaps of contradictory and
scolding information. Motherhood Smotherhood takes parents through the trenches
of new parenting, warning readers of the pleasures and perils of mommy blogs,
new parent groups, self-described "lactivists," sleep fascists,
incessant trend pieces on working versus non-working mothers, and the place
where free time and self-esteem goes to die: Pinterest (back away from the
hand-made flower headbands for baby!)
JJ Keith interweaves discussions of what "it takes a
village" really means (hint: a lot of unwanted advice from elderly
strangers who may have grown up in actual villages) and a take-down of the
rising "make your own baby food" movement (just mush a banana with a
fork!) with laugh-out-loud observations about the many mistakes she made as a
frantic new mother with too much access to high speed internet and a lot of
questions. Keith cuts to the truth--whether it's about "perfect"
births, parenting gurus, the growing tide of vaccine rejecters, the joy of
blanketing Facebook with baby pics, or germophobia--to move conversations about
parenting away from experts espousing blanket truths to amateurs relishing in
what a big, messy pile of delight and trauma having a baby is.
My Review
My Review
I needed to read Motherhood Smotherhood. I especially needed
it 13 years ago when I was a 22-year-old mom trying to figure out how to do
everything right in raising my first newborn. Author JJ Keith is the mom I
would have hung out with at mommy groups had I went to any.
Motherhood Smotherhood was a relief to read. It makes me feel
like I am not alone in this frightening world (real life & online) where
parents compete with each other, and face judgment from both parents and
non-parents.
She touches on hot topics like vaccinations and I wanted
nothing more than to bear hug her after reading the chapter about
breastfeeding. This book is about not defining love based on quirky handmade
signs hung in your child’s nursery or what brand wrap you are traveling around
with your kid in. Keith brings parenting back to basics and slashes the
unnecessary.
Facebook posts, Pinterest obsessions, and mommy boards –
it’s all here. I cannot recommend
this book enough to those parents who need a laugh and a reality check. Parents
who are tired of getting the shameful looks from others when they take their crying baby out in public.
This book also has a tender side. A chance to look at certain situations from a fresh perspective, which I appreciated. Motherhood Smotherhood is about communication and community in a helpful, non-jerk kind of way. 5/5 stars all day long.
This book also has a tender side. A chance to look at certain situations from a fresh perspective, which I appreciated. Motherhood Smotherhood is about communication and community in a helpful, non-jerk kind of way. 5/5 stars all day long.
Author Bio
JJ Keith has written about being a crappy attachment parent
for Salon, explored the disturbing undertones of Thomas the Tank Engine for
TheRumpus.net, come out as pro-vaccine for The Huffington Post, interviewed
Samantha Irby for Bitch: Feminist Response to Pop Culture, differentiated being
judgmental and having an opinion for Role/Reboot, admitted to a bare knuckled
brawl with a dude for The Nervous Breakdown, examined the phenomenon of
"don't touch the bump" t-shirts for Babble, and explained what new
moms have in common with teenage boys for The Hairpin.
Her writing has been syndicated in the Sydney Morning
Herald, iVillage Australia, Mamamia, and Alternet, and she's taken her work to
the stage with The Moth, Happy Hour Story Experiment, Write Club, and
Expressing Motherhood and spoken about parenting issues with APM's Marketplace,
HuffPost Live, and on a panel at the 2013 LA Times Festival of Books. Her
micro-memoir won a $2,500 prize from Reader's Digest and was anthologized in
The Best Life Stories: 150 Real-life Tales of Resilience, Joy, and Hope-All 150
Words or Less!
She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and her two children.
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