Dirty Little Secrets
MotherTalk Book Review: "Dirty Little Secrets by Otherwise Perfect Moms" Trishia Ashworth and Amy Nobile
"While Tricia Ashworth and Amy Nobile were researching their earlier book, I Was a Really Good Mom Before I Had Kids, the dirty little secrets started pouring out: the woman who admitted to sneaking cigarettes with her husband in the minivan while the kids watched movies inside the house to the mother who had her children wear their school clothes to bed each night. Hence the creation of this small, sinful read–Dirty Little Secrets from Otherwise Perfect Moms–that will make you feel good about your parenting skills when you’re having one of those days."
Do you know about the site called Post Secret? One of the most amazing reads. I read that site with my hands covering my eyes, peeping through my fingers. Some of the 'secrets' are really funny, others are quite scandalous, and some are really, really sad.
"Dirty Little Secrets" is like Post Secret, for moms. The books is a collection of 'secrets' written by moms. Some of the secrets were really funny, some of them reminded me of myself ("My kids yell because I yell at them"), but the book left me with an underlying sense of sadness. Because despite its claim to make you feel less alone if you sometimes feel like the 'less than perfect mom', the fact that some of these were considered 'dirty secrets' made me sad. To me, it just highlights how pervasive the myth of 'perfect parenting' is.
The book is meant to be an entertaining read, a lighthearted look at our various mothering imperfections, but perhaps I am just not in the right head space to appreciate it for what it is meant to be. I just wish that these didn't have to be 'dirty little secrets' at all, I wish they could just be called 'life'.
So, what's my secret? Well, considering my penchant for circumspection, there aren't many of my 'secrets' that you don't already know. Yes, my kids still drink their formula(!) in bottles(!) and still suck on their dummies(!) But that doesn't worry me at all. Oh! I do have a secret I haven't told you. I cut the crusts off my kids sandwiches. Always. But even that is not so bad. I cut the crusts off my own bread and look how well I turned out! I guess my dirty little secret is that I am a yeller, and I am not very proud about that at all. But I never did claim to be anywhere close to being the Perfect Mom. My dirty little secrets aren't really secrets at all, they are just part of who I am.
But, on a lighter note, it is on the whole, a very lighthearted, entertaining read. Mother Talk Inc are running a contest inviting readers to enter their 'dirty little secret' and win an Amazon gift voucher. Read more about it here.





















