Confessions of a Bad Mother by Stephani Calman

Book title :  Confessions of a Bad Mother
Author : Stephani Calman
Publisher : Macmillan
Date published : 2005      Number of pages: 306
Genre : Non-fiction      Book code         : STF/PBI/NV/099

The writer is the standout character from this story. It was a real story tells about her own experiences as a mother. As a woman, she wasn’t anally retentive enough. She wasn’t also going to have children. She was too frightened to have them. Moreover, she also had a fear of being impulsive and it was the major respect that she was compatible with Peter, another standout character in this story. He was her real husband. He also has a fear of commitment of having children.
The most interesting part of this story is when finally they had a son, named Lawrence, and no longer had another daughter, named Lydia. The way they tried to nurture their children was initially shocking because they really didn’t know how to be good parents for their children, but year by year it’s really interesting to follow their story. She begin to learn how to breastfeed, how to put them in the pushchair,  looking forward to their talking and walking, get them to the nursery school and many others. There are so many ups and downs in this part. It was so interesting. It really describes how difficult and tiring it is to become parent.
I don’t really know about the nursery time in this story. This part makes me confused because they leave their children there, in the nursery school, along weekday and just pick them up on weekend. When I looked for the meaning of nursery, it’s like time where young children and babies are taken care of while their parents are at work. What makes me confused is why don’t just the children live there  while their  parent at work, so they can pick them up when they have finished their work and no need to wait till weekend because they were just baby.
The story I dislike most from this novel is when the mother told the children about what sex is. She let them watching an adult movie to make them understand what sek is, while they’re only about six or seven. I think this part is really bad and exaggerated.
The novel reminds me to what happen with my own aunt. She was still young when she had a child. It was her first experience to nurture her child. She seemed so worried and became more panicky if something bad happen to her first child, so she asked my mother, who has been experiencing more, how to handle everything related to nurturing child. That’s also what happened with Stephanie when first time she had a child. She asked everyone to help her take care of her child, including her mother and her sister.
If I were the author, I would like to add the part of the story when Stephanie back to work as a writer. There she tried to write an article about what a mother felt when she must take care of her child. She also made a club, named a bad mother’s club. This club was just like a place for mothers to tell their story. Unfortunately, the writer tells only little about this part. I think it’s really good if this part is continued till the end of the story because it’s so inspirational. I would it to have a big role in the story. From this club, Stephanie and Peter could learn many things about how to take care of their children and make them know that they are not alone.
The largest issue taken in the story is about confessions of  a mother that it is not easy to become a mother. Women waste megawatts of energy beating themselves up as they are nurturing their children.
I can get two lessons from this story. First, as a child after reading the novel I realized how difficult and tired my mother was when she takes care of me. It’s just like Stephanie when first time she had a baby. Now, I must take care of her in her old age. I will try to give the best of me for her. Second, as a woman after reading the novel I probably worried about becoming a mother but as Stephanie and Peter could be parents for their children with Stephanie’s confessions of a bad mother whereas she just worried about their not being happy and good children, I am sure that become a mother is really amazing gift from God for women.