Toddler: Real-Life Stories of Those Fickle, Irrational, Urgent, Tiny People We Love

by Jennifer Margulis (Editor)

These clever, succinct and poignant tales capture all the hilarity, magic and chaos of raising these complex little people. Poised between the baby's and the child's world, toddlers teach us to take joy in the roundness and the texture of a small yellow ball, in the comfort of a warm blanket, in the beauty of a spider web. They help us see the world differently with their wonderfully wacky -- and occasionally surreal -- interpretations of everyday objects. They exasperate us, defy us and devastate us, yet they fill us with a profound sense of awe.

Readers share in the joy a father feels when his daughter looks at him and exclaims "dada!" (and the disappointment that follows when she addresses her Sippy cup by the same name), in the struggle of a blind mother in keeping track of her very mobile two-year-old, in the frustration a mother -- who is also a family doctor -- feels when the potty-training advice she routinely gives to worried parents doesn't work with her four-year-old triplets, and in the hilarious resignation of a father who comes to realize that even his bathroom time is now a family event.

Genres: Parenting, Nonfiction, Essays

256 pages, Paperback

First published September 11, 2003

About the author

Jennifer Margulis, Ph.D., is an award-winning investigative journalist, Fulbright grantee, and sought-after speaker. The author/editor of seven nonfiction books, she has been researching and writing about issues related to children’s health and well-being for fifteen years. Her articles have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, on the cover of Smithsonian Magazine, and in dozens of other magazines, newspapers, and websites. She has taught literature in inner city Atlanta; appeared live on prime-time TV in Paris; and worked on a child survival campaign in Niger, West Africa. A meticulous researcher who's not afraid to stick her neck out, she is nationally known as a journalist whose writing helps empower women and children. The daughter of world-renowned evolutionary biologist Lynn Margulis, she is originally from Boston, Massachusetts but now lives with her family in southern Oregon.

Reviews

[Holly Scudero · Rating 5 out of 5]

This clever collection of stories, compiled and edited by journalist Jennifer Margulis (whom I already love for her fantastic book "The Business of Baby"), is sure to resonate with any parent whose child is in (or has passed) the toddler stage. The stories cover a wide range of emotions related to parenting: love in its deepest form, wonder, exasperation, fear, exhaustion, and so much more. Some stories will really tug at your heart strings and may even get you a little weepy (because goodness knows we mothers don't need much of an excuse to cry), while others will have you laughing out loud (because we've BEEN there!).

What's great about this book is that it's so REAL. There is no such thing as a perfect parent, and these stories reflect that, whether in terms of accidentally swearing in front of our little ones, doing things that inadvertently cause them injury (which we then, of course, feel guilty about for the rest of our lives), or even just the ridiculous things we do sometimes to get through the day.

And the best part? It's a book of short stories, which sometimes is, realistically speaking, the only kind of book parents can really read. Got five or ten minutes while your child is eating? Read a story! Child is briefly playing on their own? Pick up the book! This book can easily be read in fits and starts, fitting perfectly into the lifestyle of any parent of a toddler, while providing some much needed literary therapy. I would recommend this book to any parent, no matter the age of their child.

[Sonya Feher · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this collection of essays by parents of toddlers (or former toddlers), some of whom we’d like to be and some I’m decidedly happy not to be or be like. The tone of the collection ranges from funny to serious, annoyed to amused and depicts toddlers so much more vividly than any parenting magazine or how to book. The highlights for me were:

1. “Mokehoo” by Priscilla Leigh McKinley, about parenting her toddler while getting used to being blind;
2. “The Tea Party” by Samuel P.
3. “Big Bird is Just Big Bird” by Eve S. Weinbaum on her son’s perception of gender;
4. “In Child Time” by Alexandra Kennedy about how one has to shift from the adult need and desire to get things done to a child’s need for the parent to be present;
5. "Pantless Superheroes and Chocolate Donuts” by Sachin Waikar on his week with his toddler while mom was out of town;
6. “The Fires of September” by Rebecca Boucher, about being in NY during 9/11, the most pragmatic and moving account I’ve heard of that day by anyone;
7. “Floating Cups, Quicksand, and Sudden Death,” by Catherine Newman about a child learning parents die; and
8. “The Box” by Rebecca Boucher about giving toddler clothes away as the letting go of having any more babies or toddlers.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yet another compilation of essays by writers who are mothers, this one focuses specifically on the toddler time of a child's life. The subtitle pretty much says it all and was one of the reasons I purchased the book in the first place. The essays are usually pretty funny and recount some of the priceless moments that toddlers inflict on their parents. Whether you are heading into this phase, in this phase, or out of this phase, this is a fast, funny read about one of the most amusing and frustrating periods of motherhood!

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very enjoyable, fun, "Oh-I-have-SO-been-there" read--perfect, bite-sized stories that even the busiest toddler parent can devour in his or her spare moments. Overall, the writing is pretty solid, although some stories resonated more with me than others. My two favorites were "Willy Walks" and "The Box" (this one literally made me weep), both of which eloquently capture the fleetingness of toddlerhood.

[Mandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was a bunch of stories about toddlers. As a mom of a toddler, I was looking forward to reading it. But it wasn't very good.

Some of the stories were fairly interesting, but some were really bad. The ones that were bad really didn't say much and then ending so that nothing was resolved.

I actually re-read a couple of the stories trying to see if I missed anything, but I hadn't. The story had just ended, sometimes leaving the reader wondering what the heck happened.

[Selene Colburn · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are over fifty essays/stories in this book, so after awhile what might seem like commonality starts to read as formula: "it's hard, it's hard, it's hard, it's bittersweet" (a common enough trajectory in parenting lit these days). At the same time, as the parent of a toddler, one finds it all reassuring, because it's so hard and bittersweet.

[Asher · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun collection of essays by parents of toddlers. I enjoyed reading some essays by fathers, as I usually choose collections by mothers. I'm sure I'll be reading this as Tai gets older - it's good to know I'm not alone whether he's being angel or monster. Touching stories, funny stories, and stories that remind me it could be worse.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of short pieces by various authors about toddlers. Some of them were great, some I wasn't that into. A lot of the parents seemed very "crunchy-granola" attachment type parents which isn't my thing but to each their own!

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a series of short (non-fiction) stories about living with a toddler. I read it over the month of February. Parts made me laugh out loud about the absurdity of toddler life. Other parts reminded me to savour this time with the Pea. A worthwhile read that let me see parts of myself.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is only cool because there's a story in it about me that my dad wrote.

[June]

Too funny - I feel like I could have written this myself - it hits home!

[Dorothy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Margulis

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

hilarious.... very fitting for how Ryleigh is starting to act.

[Indy · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was ok. Some stories were great but most were just so, so. Because some almost made me cry, it was worth it.