When Did I Get Like This?: The Screamer, the Worrier, the Dinosaur-Chicken-Nugget-Buyer, & Other Mothers I Swore I'd Never Be
By Amy Wilson
4/5
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About this ebook
“Amy Wilson’s hilarious, tender memoir…had me laughing out loud with recognition. She captures the small moments of motherhood in a way that is both funny and thought-provoking.”
—Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project
From the creator and star of the one-woman off-Broadway show Mother Load, comes When Did I Get Like This?, a screamingly funny take on being a modern woman, wife, and mother told with “a level of hilarity that even non-moms can appreciate” (Time Out). Amy Wilson’s poignant and provocative, utterly outrageous look at “the Screamer, the Worrier, the Dinosaur-Chicken-Nugget-Buyer, and Other Mothers I Swore I’d Never Be” has already earned an appreciative response from Three-Martini Playdate author Christie Mellor, who calls it, “As entertaining as it is reassuring.”
Amy Wilson
Amy Wilson has a background in journalism and lives in Bristol with her young family. She is a graduate of the Bath Spa MA in Creative Writing and is the author of the critically acclaimed novel A Girl Called Owl – nominated for the CILIP Carnegie medal. Her middle-grade novels also include Owl and the Lost Boy, A Far Away Magic, Snowglobe, Shadows of Winterspell, and Lightning Falls.
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Reviews for When Did I Get Like This?
23 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This book brought back so many memories of early motherhood - definitely one to recommend to mothers. Reminded me of finding Living Out Loud by Anna Quindlen when I was a young mother as well as the legacy of Erma Bombeck.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Everyone knows just how easy it is to parent children and to hold fast to the convictions we cherish about parenting, especially before we are ever actually faced with a living, breathing human being who has no qualms about making it abundantly clear that he or she was put on the planet only to rattle and test these self-same convictions. I know I looked askance at parents who parked their children in front of the television too long, who leashed their kids in public places, who fell prey to fast food and junky convenience food (mac and cheese in the blue box anyone?), and so on and so forth. Then I had my own wee people and learned that it was easy to be sanctimonious until faced with my own offspring. Then I was just plain worn down and willing to compromise. I jokingly admit to being a slacker mom, which really just means I'm doing my best even if my once impossibly high standards are now no more than curb height. But it is good to know I am not alone in this.Subtitled The Screamer, the Worrier, the Dinosaur-Chicken-Nugget-Buyer, and Other Mothers I Swore I'd Never Be, I read Amy Wilson's mothering essays and wondered if she had been spying on my life. So many of the situations she faces with her crew of three mirror what I faced with my crew of three. (As the mother of older children, I should probably not tell her that what she is facing now is merely the tip of the iceberg. I think it's almost kinder to let people discover the exponential increase that is the rule of parenting growing kids all on their own; that way they can't run away screaming even before faced with these new, more fun situations.) But Wilson has captured beautifully the humor and frustration involved not only with daily life when you live with the under four foot set, but also the ways in which society has dictated standards that Average Mom can't possibly maintain if she wants to stay sane.Her honest and balanced accounts of the choices she's made throughout her life as a parent thus far are not presented as the be all end all of choices. In fact, more than anything, she advocates finding the things that fit for your particular family and letting the rest of society's expectations fall by the wayside. Her own family life and anecdotes about her children lead into more generalized musings on bigger, universal themes and the ways in which we live up to or fail to live up to the sometimes ridiculous standards we have created even as we find our own right way. While some of her parenting choices are different than mine, I could relate to her desire to do what is best for her kids and to learn that sometimes relaxing and going with the flow, even if if that means an iCarly catatonia, is the very best thing to do. I thoroughly enjoyed these essays and wish her the best of luck as she goes forward into the older years. As my grandmother says, "Little people, little problems. Big people, big problems." But I have no doubt that Wilson will tackle the bigger problems with the same grace and humor with which she has tackled these and I'll happily be on hand to read about them.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Absolutely awesome! I loved this book. It wasn't fiction. Nope, nothing like fiction work. BUT, I still LOVED it. It was exactly what I needed to read. Having two young boys myself, and often, feeling the same way that Amy Wilson has felt, I knew that I needed to read this, whether it was fiction or not. And, after reading it, I am pleased to say that Amy Wilson hit so many things head on that I am HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommending this book to all new mothers, and mothers of young children. It will leave you laughing til you cry, and smacking yourself upside your forehead saying "doh!". As I said above, this is a book that every mother should read. Amy Wilson takes motherhood, and all it's glorious complications and hits things right on it's head. I am super glad to know that I am not the only mom who has ever felt these things, like "why did I just let my child eat that?", or "there's nothing wrong with the 5 second rule (you know....food falls on the floor and kids pick it up and pop in their mouths...)". Ms. Wilson takes mommy wars and puts them into perspective.She tells about the mom-eat-mom world today, and really digs deep and shows how there is nothing wrong with parenting a child the way YOU see fit, even if it isn't by the book. This is a fast read. It's great to sneak away with and read this mother's journey into motherhood and life as a mom. It is a hilarious approach to helping the moms of the world today. She added in the antics and life of her children, and more than once, I thought she had MY children in her home. LoL! If I had the chance to meet Amy Wilson in person, I would so be giving her a HUGE hug. She deserves it. She makes the complications of motherhood seem minor when the BIG issue at hand should be cherishing EVERY moment, EVERY little issue with your child no matter what. I can give this book no less than a 5 star review. It is so much better than those 'What to Expect When Your Expecting' books that tell you feed your child X amount of food or only where cloth diapers. You'll laugh, you'll cry, and you'll just say to yourself: I am a GREAT mom......even if we don't always feel like it.