A first for the blog this week – a review of an e-book. I’m still trying to come to terms with the concept of reading “books” online. I’m a traditional girl who loves the paper, the print, the page turning but I’m trying to “get with the times” and come around to the convenience and ease of copious amounts of books loaded onto an electronic device taking up little room and bearing hardly any weight.

Things they didn’t tell you about Parenting – is an anthology compiled by Alison Tait of Life in a Pink Fibro. Alison created the book as a fundraising activity for her friend Cate Bolt‘s orphanage Foundation 18. Cate is a mother of nine, a writer, humanitarian & social activist. As if nine children wasn’t enough to deal with Cate set about creating an orphanage in Indonesia and it currently houses 12 girls aged from three to 14. At the moment Cate is visiting the orphanage and writing about the experience on her blog, the post Welcome to Bali, Please Don’t Feed the Animals is particularly moving.

Obviously Cate is a woman who gets things done,  given my propensity to theorise more than actually do,  I was pleased to discover purchasing an e-book for $4.99 was an easy way to feel that I had at least contributed SOMETHING.

In return I received the knowledge of 32 bloggers on their experience of navigating some of the speed humps of the murky world of parenthood. The mums and a few brave dads (we need more daddy bloggers we really do) shared tales neglected by the parenting manuals.

Things they didn’t tell you about Parenting gives no advice, it’s not the book for those looking for answers or information on how to parent. Instead it presents a collection of honest accounts of moments of parenthood, sharing experiences and emotions.

In Things they didn’t tell you about Parenting we learn it’s ok to be so tired you fear a nervous breakdown, we hear that sometimes you do resent your children while simultaneously adoring them. The protectiveness gene that arrives with parenthood is dissected by a number of the writers, a father fantasising about doing damage to the motorcycle riders hooning dangerously close his children’s playground,  mothers desperate to guard their newborns.

Post-baby bodies, attachment parenting, smacking are all topics up for discussion.

The thing I liked most about the book where the variety of ages and stages of parenting displayed. Parents of older children shared the changing nature of your relationship as your babies grow up, one explained the decision to “go again” embarking on a second phase of mothering in her forties.

There were pieces which carried much power. The mother of a cross-dressing, sparkle loving, nail polish wearing five-year old boy finding the courage to let her son be whoever he wants to be in a world which doesn’t value difference. The conflicting emotions of the woman whose cancer stricken husband had to be wheeled from oncology to hold her hand while she gave birth to their baby. One mother’s journey to save her 16-year-old son from drug addiction. Another mum coming to terms with doing whatever it takes to care for her special needs child while ignoring the remarks and smugness of those who had been lucky enough to birth a child without difficulties. A widow forging a new family model as a single mum.

Things they didn’t tell you about Parenting is memoir of the most intimate kind. The stories are messy and real, the writers reveal vulnerability, fear and overwhelming love. It’s the parenting manual you need after life has hit you around the head a few times, when you’ve had to discard the rosy images of your imagination and deal with the reality that landed in your lap.

You can purchase the e-book by clicking on the link below, you’ll feel a little bit more “normal” about your own parenting and you will be helping fundraising efforts for an orphanage in Indonesia.