AS AN antidote to all those unrealistic parenting books that tell you how to bring up your children perfectly, eating nutritious food in a beautiful, tidy home, Sonia Neale employs black humour and perhaps a little artistic licence to reveal the truth abo
Neale's three children, whom she dubs The Dreamer, the SmartRider and the Wild Child, range in age from 13 to 18 years.
- Death by Teenager, by Sonia Neale. ABC Books, rrp $24.95
They are the inspiration for this collection of anecdotes that reveal the full, rich range of what it's really like to be a parent living under the same roof as those strange creatures, teenagers.
Neale, who is also the author of The Bad Mother's Revenge, is a Perth broadcaster.
"What is it about your children that makes you want to slap them with one hand and cuddle them with the other?" she asks in her chatty way, before regaling the reader with tales of dirty rooms, exploding letterboxes, neglected homework and sibling fights - but also of sibling loyalty and mother-child love.
Although I would have liked an overarching storyline to keep me reading from start to finish, rather than just the loose connections that hold this collection of tales together, this is essentially a book to dip into whenever the parenting game seems a bit too hard, to let you know you're not alone and make you laugh.
As such, it works well.
For, as Neale writes: "Whether you're a housewife peeling vegies for dinner or an astronomer peeling back the outer layers of the universe, you need to develop that happy attitude by which you can just chill out, zone in and let the good vibes flow."
