Help Me, God, I’m a Parent: Honest Prayers for Hectic Days and Endless Nights

Humorist Laditan (Dear Mother) delivers an uninspiring collection of prayers about parenthood contextualized with personal anecdotes about her faith, which mixes Christianity and Judaism. She recounts how, after her divorce, she dealt with the stress of parenting by binge-watching TV and drinking wine until she hit rock bottom and tried praying, which became her “lifeline.” Sharing some of her prayers, the author captures the polarities of parenthood, including the fine line between love and exasperation: “My weary heart explodes with love at their sleeping faces. My eyes flash with anger when they willingly disobey.” Laditan’s prayers for protection evoke the tension of wanting to raise an independent child while wishing to keep them close to the nest, exemplified in the prayer asking God to “help me to let go/ a little bit/ so their wings can stretch.” There are some touching moments (“Everyone talks about the first word and first step, but no one talks about the first time we have to let go”), but the pedestrian prose and clichéd similes (“I run around/ like a chicken with no head”) do this no favors. There’s not much to see here. (July)