Like a ghost, she’s haunted us for decades — the “perfect” mom. She sports a chic wardrobe, cooks healthy food her kids actually eat, excels in the boardroom, and still schedules couple time with her husband. She never loses her cool and has all the answers. Of course, like a ghost, there’s very little evidence she even exists.
No one knows that better than contributors to the “Bad Parent” column on Babble.com. They let their kids watch extra TV in exchange for peace and quiet. They didn’t all fall in love with their infants at first sight. They opted not to breastfeed. And they’ll tell you about it in the book adaptation of the column Dirt is Good for You: True Stories of Surviving Parenthood.
“We feel like our generation of parents is very hard on themselves,” says Rufus Griscom, founder and editor of Babble. “Very stressed out, anxious. And there’s a need for some therapy and some truth-telling around what’s okay and what’s not okay.”
The book raises some controversial issues. But more importantly, Dirt is Good for You shows you aren’t alone in feeling like a “bad parent” sometimes. For more on the book and the column that inspired it, check out my conversation with Rufus below.
