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Monday Morning Reading : Naptime is the New Happy Hour

08:00 H | Topics: Books

As a mami to a toddler, I know how precious naptime is (how do you think I get any blogging done). I'm not typically a fan of funny parenting books (ok of any parenting books) and I admit that when I opened Naptime is the New Happy Hour: and Other Ways Toddlers Turn Your Life Upside Down by Stefanie Wilder-Taylor, I was skeptical about how much I would enjoy the book.

The book is divided like many books for new mamis, dealing with some of the most pressing issues like television, tantrums, sickness, and food issues. But these issues aren't handled in your usual way. If you're a hardcore attachment mom, you won't appreciate the jabs at co-sleeping. If you're a hard core organic mom, you won't appreciate the jabs at freak outs about kids eating processed food. But if you're like most moms, you'll appreciate the witty and real look at how a little bit of tv won't kill your kids but will give you a chance to take a crap in peace and how playdates are usually fun for your kids but not so much for you.

Naptime is the New Happy Hour tackles the growing mami culture that dresses kids in designer diapers and overschedule Junior in enrichment classes and how outside the fray, moms who don't fit into accepted mami culture are made to feel.

Being an opinionated mommy and criticizing mommy culture means being taking heat for it as well. Wilder-Taylor took some heat after her first book , Sippy Cups are not for Chardonney, for her position on breastfeeding. What will Wilder-Taylor take heat for with this book? Personally, I think she tackled the realities of being the mom to a toddler well and conveyed the message that no matter how bad other moms will make you feel about what you do (and they will) unless you're abusing your kid (and no abuse doesn't mean letting them have candy or watch an episode of the screamy Dora) they'll be fine and so will you. And more importantly, the book reminds us that all those self-righteous moms have their moments of weakness when you're not looking (or when they think you're not looking).

So while Stefanie gets lots of praise for her funny and real look at motherhood (mommy blogs gush all over her) I have one, not minor, bone to pick. I know that in this day and age we're supposed to be all post-modern and able to handle racial/ethnic jokes, except as a mami of color I'm not able to handle those. I counted at least two "jokes", all aimed at people of color, that ruined my reading experience.
1. I know it was supposed to be funny and maybe it's a California thing, but writing Dora the Explorer giving your kid new language skills to negotiate a tree trimming with your gardener strikes me as a lil bit stereotypical of both the uses of Spanish and who the people who speak Spanish are.

2. Saying your sleeping baby looks cute with her blanket around her head is fine, but comparing that look to "being turban-style like a tiny 7-Eleven cashier" that again is another stereotype.

If I were to take the book's own advice, I'd be told to lighten up and have a drink, but as a mom of color whose children were born facing stereotypes, I think ethnic jokes are a cheap way to get a laugh.

You can pick up the book at Amazon.

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