This week's completed book (how did I end up at only one book a week??) was The Imperfect Mom: Candid Confessions of Mothers Living in the Real World edited by Therese J Borchard. Published in 2006, this is a slim little book of essays about being imperfect. It seems that everyone is trying to be the perfect mother (homemade baby food! baby gymnastics! Daily craft projects! Breastfeed only! etc!) and this book is written women who admit they aren't. I am not. I am a good mom, but I readily admit I am not perfect. I'd go crazy if I stayed home with the Monkey everyday. I hate bathtime. I lose my patience with the whining. I let him watch tv (the horrors!) He probably (ok, he does) eat too much sugar. I actually let him play alone while I do things I like to do for myself (like reading!) This book of essays is perfect for reassuring me that I am not the only mom who does these things that no-one will admit to.
There are 36 essays in the book. Some of them were great, some of them weren't. All of them were quick and easy. My favorite is near the end of the book. It's called Be Careful What You Wish For by Julie Aigner-Clark. It's about wishing away their childhood ("Can't wait till she can walk; can't wait till they can play together; can't wait till she sleeps through the night") until suddenly you turn around they they are grown. Just that essay alone make the book worth reading. I credit it with a lot of patience in my house lately. I won't ever be a perfect mom, and I will surely never have a clean house, but when my kid thinks about his childhood, hopefully we won't be home cleaning instead of having fun.
Anyone else interested in reading this one? My copy has a little water damage on the front cover (the previous owner spilled coffee on it and then immediately wiped it off) and I can not trade it away at PBS. Leave me a comment and it's yours. If more than one of you are interested, I'll pull a name out of the hat next weekend.
This book is an alternate on my TBR Challenge list, so only 6 more to go before the end of the year!
