As I Lay Me Down to Sleep

Nov 16, 2024 7:18 PM

Author:Eileen Munro,Carol McKay

When Eileen Munro's mother became pregnant at 16, she was told to give her baby away to a 'good family', but the couple who paid the fee at the Salvation Army mother-and-baby home in Glasgow in 1963 turned out to be alcoholics who neglected and physically abused Eileen. Then, when their marriage broke down, they failed to protect her from sexual abuse at the hands of a family friend.

After watching her adoptive mother drown on inhaled vomit, Eileen and her younger sister were taken into care, but her nightmare was to continue as she was subjected to further physical, sexual and emotional abuse.

At the age of only seventeen, seven months into a secret pregnancy, she decided that the only way out was through a bottle of painkillers; when she survived and gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, he became her lifeline.

Reviews

positive, reassuring, down-to-earth and good-humoured

—— Baby & You

Dr Green is nothing short of a genius...Toddlerdom is a minefield, but his common sense and unfailing good humour guided my family through unscathed - well, relatively

—— Independent

The eminently readable Dr Christopher Green, whose best-selling Toddler Taming has saved the sanity of countless parents

—— Evening Standard

His commonsense attitude is credited with saving the sanity of parents around the world

—— Express

Unlike other books of this sort, How Not to F*** Them Up focuses on the wellbeing of the parent as a starting point for meeting the needs of the child... This is a man who wears his heart on his sleeve, and is not afraid to admit his own frailties. As a result his theories come across not as condescension, but as advice from one fucked-up-person to another.

—— Jake Wallis Simons , The Independent on Sunday

... it is obvious that James is truly on the side of women and creating a society in which parenting and the issues it raises are shared between both partners.

—— Louise Carpenter , The Times Magazine

Hugely gripping... it certainly makes you think.

—— Angels and Urchins

[Oliver James] does a great job of describing some of the problems in modern society and how the demands of the 21st century can affect a person's happiness... [he] uncovers the answer to how to reconnect with what really matters and learn to value what you've already got. In other words, how to be successful and stay sane.

—— Ana Ivanovic, Tennis Professional , Amazon

Advice that focuses on training you - the parents - rather than your kids. A refreshing approach.

—— Easy Living

Deeply moving

—— Angus McBride , Guardian

A searingly honest book

—— Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan , Daily Express

Extremely honest and candid

—— Lorraine Kelly , Sun

(A) testament to the ferocity of maternal love

—— Allison Pearson , Daily Telegraph

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