About.com Rating
The Bottom Line
By Gina Gallagher and Patricia Konjoian; 175 pages. Subtitle: The Best Medicine for Parents of 'Imperfect' Kids Without the Scary Side Effects
The work of two sisters who are the mothers of daughters with special needs -- one with Asperger syndrome, the other with Bipolar Disorder -- Shut Up About Your Perfect Kid! seeks to speak up for all of us who can't put "My Kid Is an Honor Student" bumper stickers on our cars, but know that's meaningless anyway.
Through rambling anecdotes and silly sayings, they celebrate the joys and triumphs and really goofy moments of special-needs parenting.
About the Guide Rating
Pros
- Takes a lighthearted look at special-needs parenting
- Puts a positive spin on children's disabilities
- Drawings and anecdotes from kids add their voice to the mix
- "Shut Up About Your Perfect Kid!" is a delightful bumper-sticker statement
- It's like sitting down with a friend to trade war stories and laugh
Cons
- The humor is cute, but not gut-busting
- Could have used fewer sisterly history jokes and more about special kids
- That in-your-face title promises more attitude than the book really delivers
- If you have a friend to trade war stories with, you maybe don't need a book for it
Description
- Chapter 1: To Be Perfectly Honest
Chapter 2: Mourning the Loss of the Perfect Child and Curtains - Chapter 3: Why?
Chapter 4: Wine Tasting, the Chipmunks, and Other Methods of Support and Therapy - Chapter 5: Anything Your Kid Can Do, Mine Can Do Differently
Chapter 6: From Vitaballs to Ritalin in 60 Seconds
- Chapter 7: Food for Thought
Chapter 8: Field of Daydreaming - Chapter 9: Women Are From Venus, Men Are From the Planet of the Apes Channel
- Chapter 10: Sibling Rivalry: The Other Side of Donny & Marie
- Chapter 11: Crayola Minivans, Highway Flashes, and Other "Normal" Everyday Life Occurrences
- Chapter 12: No More Pencils, No More Books, No More Teacher's Depressing Calls
- Chapter 13: Being a Part of the Social Scene
Chapter 14: Truth or Consequences - Chapter 15: Final Thoughts from "Marcia" and "Jan"
Imperfect Glossary
Guide Review - Book Review: Shut Up About Your Perfect Kid!
There are plenty of books out there that honor the need of parents of children with disabilities to mourn, grieve, cry, abandon dreams, get in touch with their pain. And truly, there's a time for that, and maybe many, many times. But just as truly, sometimes, you just have to laugh -- at that outrageous thing your child said in front of the teacher, at the paint job your child thoughtfully did on your car, at the way you hide when the school's number comes up on caller ID, at the quirks and craziness of family life with an unpredictable member (and maybe, that member is you). If you're lucky, you have a support group or online posse to share your tales of the wacky and unbelievable. If not, invite the Terrasi girls over in the form of this wacky book to tell you their true tales of life with special-needs children. You can even chat back at them, leaving your strange-but-true family stories on their Web site, www.shutupaboutyourperfectkid.com.
That title -- "Shut Up About Your Perfect Kid!" -- made me laugh more than a lot of the anecdotes in the book, and I wish there was more of that us-against-them attitude throughout: less Erma Bombeck, more Mothers from Hell. The sibling rivalry asides, while fun at first, also get a little old as the books go on, and I wish they'd been cut to make way for more parenting tales. But those are quibbles, and your mileage may vary, as they say on those e-mail lists. What I really loved was the way the book treated disabilities as something to learn to live with and love and laugh about. That's an insight the parents of all those "perfect" kids will never gain, and we can feel a little sorry for them over it. They'll never be able to use any of these cool car magnets, either.
Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the authors. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.