In The Funny Side, you share the ups and downs of parenting in a collection of anecdotes that range from humorous and lighthearted to those that tug at readers’ heartstrings. What inspired you to share your stories with others?

I enjoy it when I share one of my parenting experiences with another caregiver, and it triggers their memory, and they share too. It feels good to laugh together.

In addition to that, being a parent is my greatest accomplishment and grandest adventure. I wanted to write a book for my boys. It ended up being a book about them and some of my favourite memories. I laughed while remembering. I laughed while writing. And I laughed while re-reading. I realized I could share my humorous view of parenting (on a larger scale) and bring smiles to others’ caregiving chaos, and let them know they aren’t alone. Hopefully, my stories can lessen the stress.

Like I say in The Funny Side, “Parenting is messy,” and that’s okay.

I appreciated the candid nature with which you share your parenting experiences. Do you have any stories that you didn’t include in this book?

I live stories every day. But, yes, some adventures didn’t get included in The Funny Side. Body parts and bathroom incidents are discussed in The Funny Side, and as I completed my final proofread, I remembered one of those “Are you kidding me?” parenting moments.

Originally, I called this story “Three words sum it up: Boys are gross!” It started with a fleeting thought about life as a queen surrounded by sunshine and rainbows and stories about love and romance. A queen whose children played games with dolls and stuffed animals, and cleaned their bedrooms, used their manners, and talked about tying bows and braiding hair . . . However, my life was not queenly. My life went like this:

A small, blurry human ran past me down the hall and slammed the door to my oldest son’s room. My subconscious mind screamed, “Oh no! He’s up to something!” Before I could process further, the child zoomed by me and out the back door.

My husband’s voice boomed with the same questions swirling in my mind. “What do you have? What are you doing?” As a response, my fast-moving son pivoted to avoid my husband, who was coming up the deck stairs. My son was now headed my way. I stepped into the doorway, trapping him between me and my husband, who was now positioned at the top of the stairs. My son froze.

“What do you have?” I asked in a low tone. I crossed my arms and narrowed my gaze as I observed my son’s eyes darting back and forth, searching for an escape path. Two looks slid across his face: a smirk of defiance and the relaxed facial expression of acceptance.

There was a brief pause before his shrill announcement. “He threw pee on me!”

I can’t stop the small intake of air or the widening of my eyes. “He what!”

The accused (my younger son) spoke up then. His voice was flat. “He threw it on me first.”

“He did not.” This was the only comment I could muster, monotone. As I looked around for my husband, who had perfected his ability to disappear into thin air, my boys scrambled past me into the house. I was alone and staring slack-jawed at a small square container with the telltale signs of urine. It was sitting on a splotchy, wet deck. I closed my eyes and massaged the bridge of my nose.

Still out of sight, the disembodied voice of my husband floated up from somewhere near the base of the deck. “Gross!”

What is the most valuable piece of advice you’ve been given about writing about your experiences?

Valuable advice about writing about my parenting experiences came to me inadvertently. One reader told me that if they’d read my book or something similar before becoming a parent or near the beginning of caregiving, they would have purchased a notebook to write those messy moments to share and laugh at later. It was a lovely compliment and not meant to be advice, but it made me think. I have a teen and a pre-teen now. The funny stuff is rampant; why am I not writing it down? The comedy gold (sometimes still in hindsight) is happening every day. So, why not capture it in writing?

What is one thing you hope your readers take away from The Funny Side?

The parenting journey is about learning, and it’s unique. Certain things come with the parenting territory. The less talked about stuff and the unexpected events (the ones that sometimes embarrass or horrify) stand out. And they can stand out as having a strange child or as bad parenting—the toddler that strips on the playground or smears boogers on the wall during a playdate—but it doesn’t mean there is anything wrong or that we, as parents, are doing it wrong. Certain things are just part of it. And, even in those challenging moments, there’s value and a nugget of humour.

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