BOOK REVIEW - Moms Don't Have Time To Have Kids

by Fran Hauser
Guest Editor

Moms Don't Have Time to Have Kids edited by Zibby Owens

I absolutely love this book. It's exactly what I needed.

Zibby Owens curates a collection of 53 essays by 49 different authors. In their own ways, the essays make moms feel more understood and less alone.

The essays are raw, vulnerable, and, collectively, express emotions or experiences about motherhood and life that many of us wouldn't feel comfortable saying out loud. They made me cry, giggle, or, sometimes, wonder.

Particularly moving to me is Lynda Cohen Loigman's The Year of Magical Sleeping. The author welcomes us into her little world, her home during the pandemic -- a space that she had to share with her two high school and college-aged kids, her husband, and her daughter's roommate. Amidst the worry about illness, the constant pitter-pattering about the house by all of her new roommates, and perhaps worst of all - her husband's nightly snoring, Loigman made her own little sanctuary by transforming a closet into her own sleeping space.

I too created my own space in a crowded home when the pandemic hit: my small guest bedroom became my office. It may not be spacious or have the typical office amenities, but it is mine: my place to work, but also, my place to seek a moment away from the chaos of a full household.

I still use this bedroom-turned-office, and Moms Don't Have Time to Have Kids sits safely on my desk. I can pop in and read an essay in just a few minutes, and get a fix of meditation, inspiration and self-care all wrapped up in one.

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Fran Hauser is a bestselling author, startup investor and champion of women. For more of her book recommendations, follow @fransbookshelf on Instagram.

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