Confessions of a Scary Mommy
Confessions of a Scary Mommy: An Honest and Irreverent Look at Motherhood: The Good, the Bad, and the Scary
Author: Jill Smokler
Published: April 3, 2012
Audible
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Read: January 1-3, 2019
Jessica’s Rating: 5 stars
Book Description from Amazon:
Sometimes I just let my children fall asleep in front of the TV.
In a culture that idealizes motherhood, it’s scary to confess that, in your house, being a mother is beautiful and dirty and joyful and frustrating all at once. Admitting that it’s not easy doesn’t make you a bad mom; at least, it shouldn’t.
If I can’t survive my daughter as a toddler, how the hell am I going to get through the teenage years?
When Jill Smokler was first home with her small children, she thought her blog would be something to keep friends and family updated. To her surprise, she hit a chord in the hearts of mothers everywhere.
I end up doing my son’s homework. It’s wrong, but so much easier.
Total strangers were contributing their views on that strange reality called motherhood. As other women shared their stories, Jill realized she wasn’t alone in her feelings of exhaustion and imperfection.
My eighteen month old still can’t say “Mommy” but used the word “shit” in perfect context.
But she sensed her readers were still holding back, so decided to start an anonymous confessional, a place where real moms could leave their most honest thoughts without fearing condemnation.
I pretend to be happy but I cry every night in the shower.
The reactions were amazing: some sad, some pee-in-your-pants funny, some brutally honest. But they were real, not a commercial glamorization.
I clock out of motherhood at 8 P.M. and hide in the basement with my laptop and a beer.
If you’re already a fan, lock the bathroom door on your whining kids, run a bubble bath, and settle in. If you’ve not encountered Scary Mommy before, break out a glass of champagne as well, because you’ll be toasting your initiation into a select club.
I know why some animals eat their young.
In chapters that cover husbands (“The Biggest Baby of Them All”) to homework (“Didn’t I Already Graduate?”), Confessions of a Scary Mommy combines all-new essays from Jill with the best of the anonymous confessions.
Sometimes I wish my son was still little – then I hear kids screaming at the store.
As Jill says, “We like to paint motherhood as picture perfect. A newborn peacefully resting on his mother’s chest. A toddler taking tentative first steps into his mother’s loving arms. A mother fluffing her daughter’s prom dress. These moments are indeed miraculous and joyful; they can also be few and far between.”
Jessica’s Review:
This memoir is for every woman out there: whether you have kids or not, want kids or not, or even at times wish you didn’t have kids you do have! Confessions is hilarious and it gives a candid look at what motherhood is like. I have a new appreciation for my friends with small children, it really is a difficult job! There were times I laughed, and times when my mouth dropped from surprise. Each chapter begins with anonymous ‘Mommy Confessions’ that are just as candid and at times entertaining to listen to. If you are a mom, I am sure you will feel what these ladies feel.
I listened to the audio version which was narrated by Smokler herself. The “Mommy Confessions” have different narrators. I’ll be turning 39 in April and I will most likely not become a human mommy, just a fur-baby mommy, and I think I am ok with that!
Reviewer Confession: I have NEVER changed a diaper in my life: I would be the most clueless mom out there!
Confessions of a Scary Mommy is recommended.