Review: Gummi Bears Should Not Be Organic by Stefanie Wilder-Taylor

Title: Gummi Bears Should Not Be Organic: And Other Opinions I Can't Back Up With Facts
Author: Stefanie Wilder-Taylor
Format: egalley
Pub. Date: April 7th 2015
Source: Gallery Books


Book Description via Goodreads:

From the popular mommy blogger and seasoned author of Sippy Cups Are Not for Chardonnay and Naptime Is the New Happy Hour comes this hilarious book of honest, no-holds-barred musings on motherhood.

Stefanie Wilder-Taylor is officially fed up with the endless mommy fads, trends, studies, findings, and facts about how to raise children. Tiger Mom or Cool Mom? Organic or vegan? TV is the devil or TV is a godsend?

The mother of three young girls, Stefanie has finally decided to hell with Google she's going to find out how to be a mom all on her own. In this latest mommy book from the popular blogger, author, and TV personality, Stefanie will share her secrets for achieving a balance in motherhood between being protective and caring, and downright batshit crazy. She'll debunk some of the looniest parenting myths and reinforce others; she'll describe how, through as simple a process as good old trial-and-error, she's learned to pick and choose what works for her and her family, and tune out the rest.

Filled with sage advice, laugh-out-loud stories, and Stefanie's signature wit, Gummi Bears Should Not Be Organic is sure to appeal to any and every renegade mom who's forged her own path to childrearing.

Review:

★★

I really wanted to like this book. The blurb sounded great, the title is hilarious, and who doesn't want to read a book with a big red gummi bear on the cover? Unfortunately, I think this book is another example of "just wasn't for me".

I don't have kids, but I can enjoy a book about parenting if it's well done and if I connect to it. I didn't have that connection to this book. I had never heard of the author before, so I was unfamiliar with her type of humor. She's funny, no getting around that. But I didn't laugh as much as I was meant to, I don't think. There were quite a few places where it was trying way too hard to be funny, which had the opposite effect of laughter. Other times (and I had this issue not that long ago with Jim Gaffigan's parenting book), the humor just comes off as smug.

Actually, that's kind of how I felt about this book. That "here's an example of all the things I do with my kids and I support your own systems, but mine is better and I'm judging you a bit". I know that no two parents agree on every method of raising a kid, but this book serves as a reminder of how judgy the parent pool can be. I also didn't really learn anything from this book. There were no moments where I thought "Wow, that's such a great idea, I'll have to remember that for my kids!" That's not to say that the author gives bad advice: she doesn't. It's very reasonable advice that in general just has to do with finding balance- not too much, not too little. I agree that this is a good approach to parenting. There just wasn't anything new to me.

Despite my issues with this book, I think people will like it more than I did. Like I said, I think this is an example of it's not you, book, it's me. Maybe it's funnier and more relatable if you're a parent, or if you're older than I am. Or maybe you just need a different sense of humor than I have. This isn't a bad book, but it's one I was disconnected to.

I received a copy in exchange for my honest review.