Taylor Glenn: A Billion Days of Parenthood

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One of the most entitled phrases in common usage is: “As a parent…”. This conversational prefix is a moral steroid boost, raising parenthood to the level of an elite priesthood where correctness is divined in soiled nappies and milky vomit. As a parent to a three-year-old daughter, the only entitlement Taylor Glenn feels is to demystify being one.

This is a frequently hilarious and consistently on-the-nose deconstruction of being a mum. Don’t worry, this isn’t a parent spending an hour bemoaning her fate. Glenn gets the balance right of the swirling emotions of being a mum – the doubt, the pressures, the euphoria, the fatigue.

Parenthood is a ripe ground for comedy. It is full of the unexpected twists, ironies and gross-out moments that the form thrives on. Glenn carefully picks episodes from the past three years—the drugs during labour, the physical change after birth, the awkwardly reconfigured sex life—and elevates them with whimsy and good-natured humour.

Is there much here for non-parents? Certainly. Glenn’s delivery is cartoonish and generous enough to welcome everyone in. But for those with kids, it is unflinchingly recognisable, from the guilty desire to kick your screaming child out the window to the genuine mental health problems that can follow. This is certainly comedy as truth telling. As a parent, book the babysitter and go see.