It’s naptime here for Milo and I just read cover to cover The Granny Diaries: an insider’s guide for new grandmothers and loved it! I suspect that since my oldest son is three that my mom and MIL already learned most of this stuff the hard way… BUT, if I could go back to my first-time-pregnant self, I would engineer a way for both of them to get copies (either anonymously or from their own battle-scarred girlfriends). It’s that good!
The Granny Diaries is written by an actual hip grandma, Adair Lara, about all the mistakes she made and lessons from her own screw-ups grandmothering an infant and toddler. It’s packed with funny-but-true advice about not interfering and always following the mama’s rules (instead of freestyling and giving my son his first ice cream while I’m parking the car at the grocery store and didn’t even think to ask you not to give him ice cream!!) while also celebrating the great parts of grandmothering too.
Do yourself a favor and find a copy of this book and mail it anonymously to any new grandmothers out there. The sanity you save may be your own.
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I received this copy to read and review and love from our friends at Chronicle Books. I’ll be sneaking it into my MIL’s bags at her next visit.
I gave this book to my MIL when we told her I was pregnant. She absolutely ADORES it and has taken the advice to heart, thankfully.
Nannette — I think that’s the best idea. You have to give it to her before she’s done anything wrong in order to avoid the insinuation that she’s doing stuff wrong. Genius!
I just flipped through the preview on Amazon and I’m sold but how do I give this to my mom and MIL without them being insulted?
Anyone else worried they may take it the wrong way?
Pantrygirl, I’m with you. I think its funny and useful and might be seen as a slap in the face. One idea is to pretend you didn’t flip through it and just heard that “another hip grandma wrote this cute book, maybe you’ll like it”… I dunno.
My MIL is visiting this weekend while I go out of town for a girls weekend and I’ve asked my husband to slip it in her bag when she’s not looking. He’s not usually as sneaky as me, so we’ll have to see how it goes!