In these 23 original stories, mothers and fathers from all walks of life—straight, gay, single, surrogate, biological, adoptive—explore the challenges and rewards of parenthood. Here, among other adventures, parents fall hopelessly in love with newborns, secretly fear having made huge mistakes, race to finish birthing at home before the paramedics arrive, struggle with the bureaucracy of international adoption, despair of ever getting a one-year-old to nap, are nearly broken by colic, encounter other judgmental parents in birthing class, learn how to parent children with special needs, and more. Together, these thoughtful, searing, often hilarious essays map the grand (and sometimes terrifying) journey that begins with each new life.
From the Publisher's Weekly review
"In her introduction, Lisa Belkin (Life’s Work: Confessions of an Unbalanced Mom) reflects on the shift from the time when she was a new parent (“parenting was still a silo”) to now, when multiple venues exist for discussion of every conceivable parenting-related topic. This book’s contribution to the genre is a thoughtful, often funny set of 23 essays. Adoptions are the subject of some of the most poignant entries, including Mary A. Scherf’s “Becoming His Mother,” about spending several days in a women’s prison in Guatemala on kidnapping charges, and Nancy McCabe’s “The Baby Room,” about accompanying her teenage daughter on a visit to the Korean orphanage where the latter was raised. There, the babies “lie listless and unblinking in the airless room” and “no one launches a full-voiced, full-bellied cry.” Crying, however, figures as a very real horror in other essays, such as Amy Penne’s appropriately titled “Apocalypse Now.” Most contributors are women, but a few fathers also list their woes. In “Four Early Lessons in Parenting,” Steven Church laments his shortcomings in living up to the “potential superhero” his son thinks he is: “My shoulder is wrecked. I’m lactose intolerant.” This collection’s wide range of topics should resonate with an equally wide range of parents."
