"Gina Ford ruined my life. OK, technically not all of it, just a small but significant chapter: very early motherhood. The parenting guru's bestselling tome convinced me I was the worst mum in the world, and that my baby was faulty. He didn't do what her book said he was meant to, you see, even when I followed her strict rules to the absolute apostrophe, never mind letter. It was almost as though he hadn't read it, or was an individual human being or something."
"All of this is to say to admit that I am not exactly an unbiased source when it comes to Ford, who this week reappeared to make people with kids feel terrible about a whole new thing. Apparently if you prioritise your offspring over your partner, you're putting even the strongest relationship at risk. I think that so many parents, because they're trying so hard to bend over backwards to make everything perfect for their children, they forget about themselves, Ford told the Times."
Gina Ford's bestselling parenting regimen convinced the narrator she was a terrible mother and that her baby was at fault. The baby did not follow the book's strict rules despite exact compliance, producing severe sleep deprivation and feelings of hopeless failure. The narrator once woken her husband at 3.47am to read a passage from Ford's The Contented Little Baby while their infant screamed. Ford later warned that prioritising children over partners endangers relationships. The narrator reacts with sarcasm about apps and divorce courts, notes that both parents intensely prioritize their son, and describes exhausting efforts to make everything perfect for him.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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