There Are Mums Way Worse Than You: Irrefutable Proof That You Are Indeed a Fantastic Parent

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Bianca Schulze: Hi. Glenn. Welcome to the Growing Reader’s Podcast. Thanks so much for joining me today. If you’re struggling with motherhood, chances are other moms out there who feel the same way. This book is a great way to connect with other moms and share your experiences. Here’s a question that I ask everyone, and I’m fascinated to hear your take on it as a comedy writer and not specifically as a children’s book writer. So, I always ask, to be a writer, they say you need to be a reader first. So, was there a pivotal moment when you considered yourself a reader? For the latest episodes from The Growing Readers Podcast, Follow Now on your favorite podcast platform. So, I hope that I can give people maybe a little bit of a reframing moment so that they realize like, oh, man, okay, I’m not doing that bad, you know, because sometimes they think—I mean, at least my sister, she’s such a good mom. And I think with that comes this quality of, oh, she’s really hard on herself. And I just look at her every day. I’m like, your daughter loves vegetables. It’s like, what are you talking about? You’re a bad mom? You’re the best mom. So, I hope I can give some ease to moms who might be feeling stressed out.

Bianca Schulze: And then Laurie Kilmartin, the author of—and sorry, if you happen to be listening to this episode, any listeners in the car, I am about to say a bad word, so cover your kid’s ears. The author of Sh*tty Mom says, “I love this book! It sounds like a song whenread out loud,and it’s so funny and sweet thatI almost want to have another baby. Almost.”Bianca Schulze: All right. So well, since you brought up the illustrations, do you have a favorite illustration in the book? Bianca Schulze: It’s for adults and parents in particular. And the title is There Are Moms Way Worse Than You: Irrefutable Proof That You Are Indeed a Fantastic Parent. And I mean, come on, just that title alone. Thank you. I don’t know a single parent who doesn’t sometimes need a little reminder of what a great job they’re doing.

Glenn Boozan’s hopes for There Are Moms Way Worse Than You: Irrefutable Proof That You Are Indeed a Fantastic Parent. The quokka – a type of small wallaby – doesn’t actually hurl its baby toward a predator. But when threatened, this furry marsupial will create a diversion by expelling offspring from its pouch by relaxing the muscles, allowing its charge to fall to the ground. “The joey serves as a yummy distraction for the predator while the mom runs to safety, hopefully to breed again,” Boozan wrote. So, I’m kind of assuming like, I mean, you’re not a parent, but you’re a human, so I’m assuming that you’re no different, right? So, do you have any words of wisdom on how you manage your own negative self-talk as you mentioned at the beginning, how, you know, sometimes hunched down and hating like every single thing that you’ve written that day, you know, like, so how do you manage your own self-talk? Nobody benefits from me being mean to myself. My work doesn’t get done faster or doesn’t get done better. The people around me don’t like me more and it doesn’t serve anyone. And so, I think that just that little thought sometimes helps me realize, like, oh, okay, I can calm down. Like, the stakes of this are not as high as I think. If I make a mistake, that’s fine. No one’s going to die, you know? No one’s going to explode unless you’re a quokka, baby. Bianca Schulze: Yeah, I mean, we’re all trying our best, and we all need to believe in ourselves. And yes, I think we can often be the hardest on ourselves.Bianca Schulze: So, I was just curious, like, I mean, I’m assuming maybe, you know, these people in person and like, how does all this great praise for your book make you feel? Bianca Schulze: The way they described the books like, your book is so great, too. I mean. It’s all those things. Bianca Schulze: You don’t ever hear about quokkas. And so, I loved that. And, if anybody was to write about a Quokka, I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t highlight what you highlighted—is that the moms tossed their kids to the prey as a decoy to keep themselves safe from predators. Yes, I did not know that again. So here I am, excited. Oh, look. It’s the cute quokka. And then no. Sorry. Quokkas.