I’m Wrecked, This is My Journal – the birth story
Back in 2013 when I had my daughter, I wasn’t attracted to
traditional baby record books – they seemed a little bit twee for me. I couldn’t
see myself filling them in beyond the first page of pastel teddy bears and
requests for ‘hopes and dreams for the future’. Instead I used a normal diary
and each day (read: whenever I remembered) I would try to write a sentence
about something that had happened. It ranged from memories of nice play dates (drinking
cider in pub gardens) or milestones (poonami nightmares), to ‘everybody cried
today’. Looking back on those sentences months later, it occurred to me that
they reflected my own parenting experience as well as my daughter’s
development, and that there wasn’t really a baby book that asked you to record
those thoughts too.
As the birth of my second child approached in 2016 I noticed
that milestone cards and social media now seemed to be the most common way of
recording each step. I wanted to participate in that but I also didn’t want to
scroll back through my photo feeds in years to come to remind myself of what
happened when. In addition to how to record my parenting journey and baby’s
first year, I recalled the endless hours spent shuffling through the same old
websites on my phone in the middle of the night. Could I bear resorting to the
Sidebar of Shame again? When I asked an older colleague what she’d done before
smart phones she replied: ‘Stare at the wall.’ There had to be more
entertaining ways to experience motherhood, surely?
And so I developed the idea I’d had for a while – I’m Wrecked, This is My Journal. Each
page would have a small task – either amusing or sentimental – that wasn’t too
taxing for tired parents. You could record the date and a sentence about the
day so there was no pressure to fill it in every day. Whether it was designing
a label for parent gin, or thinking of five famous people you would want to
raise your child – you’d be able to look back on your own rollercoaster journey
of parenthood, as well as reminisce about first crawls and tiny footprints. And
it would be easy to share completed pages on social media and compare responses
with other parents, or keep it completely offline and private.
It feels odd now the book has published that I can actually use
the journal I dreamt of to record my son’s first year. I’m encouraging my
husband to fill in some pages too, as it’s not about being a mum or giving
birth – likewise if you’ve adopted a child or are a same-sex couple. Raising
children is a universal experience but we each have a unique perspective. I can’t
wait to see how people are using the book and know that, one day, both my son
and I will have a special record that we can share. He may ask me why there are
so many references to gin, mind you . . . And the answer is simple: I was
wrecked.
Shannon
To win a copy of this book go to the Bad Mum instagram page and tell us how you have been a wrecked mother before and why you need this book, under the competition post! Add the #ImWreckedBadMum.
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