I made a booboo - book review

Every parent wants the best for her child. The moment she realizes she is expecting, she buys all those books on parenting. She googles information about child raising. There are many companies which cleverly trap her to buy those books, CDs, pregnancy clothes and baby care products. Having bought all these (un)wanted items, she is ready to become a mother. The child comes into this world and turns all those theories in the books and online expert blogs upside down. All those books and CD’s lie in the garbage, for they are of no help. Now she is left alone. The result - I made a booboo by Shivangi Sharma. The tagline of the book says it all ‘A mom who had parenting all sorted ….until she had a baby.’

This book is about parenting and it is not about parenting. The author writes her personal experience of raising a child. At the same time she doesn’t offer any tips for you. She is aware of the tremendous pressure created on the would be parents by the parenting literature. So she consciously refrains from imparting any gyan. She just exposes everything about raising her child, including that antiseptic cream on her son’s bum, which refused to go.

If you ever had a chance to observe a child from close quarters, you will agree with the following lines from the book. ‘For an adult the process (of sleeping) is very simple – feel sleepy, rub eyes, yawn, hit the bed, snore. For my son it went like- feel sleepy, rub eyes, yawn, hear the door bell, get excited, ask to be taken to the door, observe and form another connection in his tiny brain, forget about sleeping, start playing, feel sleepy again, rub eyes, get tired, know now what to do now, cry, resist everything. Finally when at the tether’s end of weariness, he would settle in our arms and ask in his own way to help him got to sleep.’ She says whoever coined the phrase sleep like a baby never had his own baby.

While documenting her journey of motherhood, she is humorous. Her writing is simple, hilarious and easy to relate. The honesty in her writing is palpable. She candidly admits that child raising became another reason for her fights with her husband. No wonders this book which is humorous, sarcastic and philosophical in the last chapter, strikes a chord with its readers. If you are expecting a child or already have one or planning to have one (more) in near future, this book is highly recommended.