I am super excited to tell you all about Stephanie Calman’s newest book The Confessions of a Bad Mother: The Teenage Years. Many thanks to Tracy for having me on – board the blog tour, as well as Picador Books for a copy of the book in preparation of the tour. This laugh out loud became available for your reading pleasure from the 16th of May in audiobook, hardback and kindle format. You can order it here!
Stephanie Calman is the author of six books, Confessions of a Bad Mother, Confessions of 
a Failed Grown-Up, How (Not) to Murder Your Mother, How (Not) to Murder Your Husband, Dressing for Breakfast and Gentleman Prefer My Sister. In addition to being an author she created the Channel 4 sitcom Dressing for Breakfast and has appeared on TV shows such as Have I Got News for You and The Wright Stuff. Stephanie also has a blog that you should 100% check out!http://www.badmothersclub.co.uk/category/bad-mothers-blog/
Follow Stephanie on Twitter @CalPerson
Here’s the blurb for this star read:
“When you’re pregnant you think: ‘I’m having a baby’, not a person who will eventually catch trains by themselves, share a fridge with ten strangers, go to a festival in Croatia without succumbing to a drug overdose, and one day, bring you a gin and tonic when your mother is dying.
We imagine the teenage years as a sort of domestic meteor strike, when our dear, sweet child, hitherto so trusting and mild, is suddenly replaced by a sarcastic know-all who isn’t interested in the wisdom we have to pass on. But with great honesty and refreshingly bracing wit, Stephanie Calman shows that adolescence in fact begins much earlier, around the age of seven.
And having nurtured them through every stage of development, from walking to school by themselves to their first all-night party, you find yourself alone – bereaved even – as they skip off to university without a second glance.”
As a parent of a 7 almost 8 year old and a two year old, I couldn’t help but laugh out loud (snort beverages out of my nose) when reading this completely agreeable read about parenthood, especially motherhood. Life is always like a rollercoaster with a child. Stephanie hits the nails on the head with every chapter; motherhood isn’t a ball park, it’s trials and tribulations but best of all, it’s rewarding – there is a glorious light at the end of the tunnel! and totally see where the author was coming from. I knew that I was going to fall in love with this book after reading chapter one, where the author tells us briefly about a disastrous dual over a stick. Yup, a wooden tree stick! This happens everyday in my house, what one child wants the other 100% must have *pulls hair out.* My point is that anyone, who has ever been around a child will find themselves nodding at various antidotes and occurrences! A positively fantastic concoction of humour and sensibility. I applaud Stephanie Calman.
I found that this book reassured me that the tantrums, disagreements and disastrous moments that I sometimes feel ‘why me?!’ don’t just happen to me, it allows a sense of community; we are all doing the best we can with what we’ve got, that’s all we can do and that’s all our kids need! Our lovely, kind, beautiful mutant kids!
We don’t only teach children things about life, they teach us. The morals entwined within the chapters of The Confessions of a Bad Mother – The Teenage Years include conflict. Stephanie talks about how her youngest ‘argues’ with her friend, then everything is fine, not ignoring calls for days, angry eyes etc. within minutes they’re best friends again. This is definitely one thing that we could learn from these small little individuals.
Thank-you Stephanie for writing this nothing closed off view point of motherhood, how you have to roll with the punches, that no-one is doing a bad job and that parentage is a learning curve, with all the mistakes on the way developing our kids state of mind and independence. The Confessions of a Bad Mother – The Teenage Years is a hilariously, absorbing read of parenthood that I got absorbed into and just couldn’t put down! What a book!
Recommended! Thanks again Tracy for having me on-board the tour, and Picador for the copy of this incredible read! Everyone, you should check out the other great reviews for this book from the blog tour bloggers!
The Reading Closet 