"Bad Mother" has many intelligent things to say about the joys and challenges of raising children, of the labor required (and hopeful prayers offered) to see that they become happy, healthy, and whole adults. Also good was the discussion of how society continually presents evil "bogeymamas" (often women who have postpartum depression or a mental illness). We can read of such an unnatural creature and feel nicely smug, totally uninterested in the way that people who supposedly have all of their marbles, like members of congress, do nothing for the benefit and well-being of all the nation's children. Worse still, Waldman says, is the fact that women are the first-formed and loudest chorus of attackers to other women who fall off the ridiculously high Good Mother pedestal.
The tone - the "voice" of the writing was a bit hard, maybe even somewhat annoying, despite Waldman holding the same opinions I have on a number of issues. She pays lip service to realizing how extraordinarily privileged she is, but doesn't take the next logical step of doing something to help mothers who aren't so lucky. It's as if looking down on people who look down on troubled moms and families is the same as affirmatively helping them.
Well, caring for four kids wouldn't leave her time or energy for anything else. And it would never occur to anyone to ask a dad what was he doing for less happy families.
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