One of my Christmas gifts to myself was the book No Kidding, a collection of essays by women writers who have opted out of motherhood. Even though I've only read the foreword, the introduction and two of the entries, I can already recommend it.
Writer/director Henriette Mantel is the editor, and she says that she came up with the idea for the book after asking her mother what she thought of Mantel's decision to not have kids. Her mother replied, "Well, you certainly have freedom to do whatever you want." (No repressed judgement there, right?) Mantel agreed with her, and immediately started contacting the friends she thought might be interested in contributing to the book.
Those friends include Margaret Cho, Wendy Liebman, Laurie Graff, Nora Dunn, and the hilarious Jennifer Coolidge, who wrote the foreword. Coolidge says, "I knew my limitations at a young age. I was very aware of my inability to multitask by age five. I admitted this to my mother when I came in from playing, spit out my chewing gum, handed it to her, and said, 'Mom please hold my gum, I'm going to the bathroom right now, and I can't handle both.'"
As a single woman with no kids, the appeal of this book is obvious for me, but I think that all women should consider reading it, regardless of their familial situation. And men too, for that matter!
As Coolidge says, "This collection of stories couldn't be more interesting or diverse, and you certainly don't have to be childless, or 'child-free' to be moved by them."
The way I see it, we can all learn from listening to another's point of view, and we need to embrace our differences as human beings and not judge each other for our decisions, conscious or otherwise. We can never truly understand each other unless we hear each other's stories, and for that reason alone, this particular collection is worth a read.
Sarah xoxo
Writer/director Henriette Mantel is the editor, and she says that she came up with the idea for the book after asking her mother what she thought of Mantel's decision to not have kids. Her mother replied, "Well, you certainly have freedom to do whatever you want." (No repressed judgement there, right?) Mantel agreed with her, and immediately started contacting the friends she thought might be interested in contributing to the book.
Those friends include Margaret Cho, Wendy Liebman, Laurie Graff, Nora Dunn, and the hilarious Jennifer Coolidge, who wrote the foreword. Coolidge says, "I knew my limitations at a young age. I was very aware of my inability to multitask by age five. I admitted this to my mother when I came in from playing, spit out my chewing gum, handed it to her, and said, 'Mom please hold my gum, I'm going to the bathroom right now, and I can't handle both.'"
As a single woman with no kids, the appeal of this book is obvious for me, but I think that all women should consider reading it, regardless of their familial situation. And men too, for that matter!
As Coolidge says, "This collection of stories couldn't be more interesting or diverse, and you certainly don't have to be childless, or 'child-free' to be moved by them."
The way I see it, we can all learn from listening to another's point of view, and we need to embrace our differences as human beings and not judge each other for our decisions, conscious or otherwise. We can never truly understand each other unless we hear each other's stories, and for that reason alone, this particular collection is worth a read.
Sarah xoxo