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A review by megatsunami
My Mother Wears Combat Boots: A Parenting Guide for the Rest of Us by Jessica Mills
3.0
I enjoyed this collection of essays and writings about being a punk, anarchist mom. Just the title alone was validating! My subcultural/ non-mainstream affiliations are a little different than hers so I didn't always relate to the specific dilemmas she had (e.g. going on tour with her punk band with kid in tow) but I still appreciated hearing about parenting from a non-mainstream angle.
I felt the baby chapters didn't offer as much original content, as they had a lot of safety and informational guidelines about baby care which I could get from other sources. Also, the author is really into natural birth, cosleeping, babywearing, etc. and although she shared her own struggles with some of these things, her ultimate attitude about them was a little self-righteous. The toddler/ older child chapters were more interesting to me. Some of pieces I most appreciated:
- "The Baby Gender-Coding Phenomenon" (I like when she suggests that, as an experiment, you try dressing your baby up in differently "gendered" clothes on different days and notice people's reactions)
- The Great TV Debate (I liked the approach the author and her partner took, which was a more nuanced way of interacting with TV to help promote media literacy and critical thinking)
- A Typical Day With My Preschooler (nice to read about someone else's spirited, energetic girl who is fun-loving but can be a handful!)
- "Organizing Childcare for the FTAA Protests" and "Three Generations March for Choice" (useful and thoughtful reflections on including kids in protest activism)
- "Who Gives A Shit About Kids and Cursing?" (appreciated the challenge to traditional assumptions that kids cursing is uniformly bad)
- "Slave to Fashion" and "Setting Up An Art Center" (liked how the author explored some ways of giving her child free choice, while also talking about the dilemmas and how hard it was at times)
- "Mom, I Want to Go to Real School!" (reflections on sending her child to regular public school and some of the reactions they had as parents)
I felt the baby chapters didn't offer as much original content, as they had a lot of safety and informational guidelines about baby care which I could get from other sources. Also, the author is really into natural birth, cosleeping, babywearing, etc. and although she shared her own struggles with some of these things, her ultimate attitude about them was a little self-righteous. The toddler/ older child chapters were more interesting to me. Some of pieces I most appreciated:
- "The Baby Gender-Coding Phenomenon" (I like when she suggests that, as an experiment, you try dressing your baby up in differently "gendered" clothes on different days and notice people's reactions)
- The Great TV Debate (I liked the approach the author and her partner took, which was a more nuanced way of interacting with TV to help promote media literacy and critical thinking)
- A Typical Day With My Preschooler (nice to read about someone else's spirited, energetic girl who is fun-loving but can be a handful!)
- "Organizing Childcare for the FTAA Protests" and "Three Generations March for Choice" (useful and thoughtful reflections on including kids in protest activism)
- "Who Gives A Shit About Kids and Cursing?" (appreciated the challenge to traditional assumptions that kids cursing is uniformly bad)
- "Slave to Fashion" and "Setting Up An Art Center" (liked how the author explored some ways of giving her child free choice, while also talking about the dilemmas and how hard it was at times)
- "Mom, I Want to Go to Real School!" (reflections on sending her child to regular public school and some of the reactions they had as parents)