The Sh!t No One Tells You About Toddlers: A Guide to Surviving the Toddler Years By Dawn Dais : Review

This book, like many books within the 'Parenting Is Hard and Weird and Smells Funny!  (for everyone..not just you)', genre is wonderfully reassuring to people like me.  Parents like me, who approach child rearing without any sort of notions of how the fuck they are gonna make this thing work. Parents who figure 'go with the flow' is the best way to learn. Parents whose children may or may not be minor demons of hell. (The little one--possibly the Antichrist). Anyway..

While the book is lighthearted, quite amusing, and relate-able- (at least for me), it does get a bit repetitive on the humor. That's obviously the writers' style, which is cool, but I can see it getting on some reader's nerves. And the title has a curse word in it, so there's that.

This book is great for those moms who take that lighthearted approach to parenting, no matter how many kiddos they have. If you've got an earth momma friend who is intent on breastfeeding until 12, a helicopter momma who can't believe that 'you'd let your child do that?!?' or someone who doesn't believe in the word 'no'--- maybe this isn't for them.

I appreciate the 'Moms On The Front Lines' (MOFL) section at the end of each chapter, because it does give some feedback from mothers in all different situations. We're all different people. We do things different. And what works for someone may not work for you.  (Just don't be a dick about it, hehe).

The 'Eating Out' chapter bothered me a bit, but as the wife of a chef and a mother of boys who grew up in bars and restaurants (i.e. they damn sure know how to behave and better do behave), I have a different perspective. SOME of the MOFL tips (bring toys, people! KEEP THEM BUSY!) were spot on for this one though, ha.

There are a TON of parenting (funny parenting, serious parenting, weird hippie mama parenting) books out there--and this is another one of them. End of story, really. It's funny and silly and something I'd prefer over those 'Birth to age 3' books. We all need a little humor when raising kids.

Excuse me while I get my little one out of the dog bed and the rawhide out of his mouth.

(*note: this book was received digitally via netgalley for free.)