Book Club: The Honest Toddler

This month, Pregnancy & Newborn’s Book Club is reading The Honest Toddler: A Child’s Guide to Parenting. Twitter’s youngest superstar, @HonestToddler, finally breaks into the book world, bringing all the sass you’ve come to love to this parental guide. Full of tips on everything from the proper way to serve fruit (“Do not remove stickers before serving. If the fruit is not for you, the sticker isn’t, either. Greed.”) to reviews of popular children’s stories (“The Very Hungry Caterpillar: This is a book about an insect that will soon be dead because it has no instincts.”), this guide provides a hilarious look into the mind of a toddler. As it turns out, the best advice on babies comes from someone who isn’t potty trained. (Written under the supervision of Bunmi Laditan.)
Pregnancy & Newborn: What are planning on wearing to your first big book launch? No pants, we presume?
Honest Toddler: A cape and perhaps something to keep my wrists warm.
P&N: How are your parents handling your fame?
HT: If you’re asking if I’m receiving more respect the answer is no. Bedtime stories are still read as if there’s Patrón on ice in the next room.
P&N: What made you decide to write this book?
HT: The injustices so many toddlers live through has been my inspiration from day one. What do we want? Everything. When do we want it? NOW.
P&N: What would you say is the biggest problem that toddlers face today?
HT: Snacks. Food trends such as avoiding gluten based on a hunch and replacing chocolate with carob are physically hurting small children.
P&N: If you could give parents of toddlers one piece of advice, what would it be?
HT: I’d tell them that there’s nothing wrong with waking up before the sun. The early bird gets the worm and usually two breakfasts as well.
And a question for Bunmi Laditan, the adult behind the toddler …
P&N: What was it like working with a toddler on a book?
Bunmi Laditan: It was interesting to say the least. Toddlers tend to enjoy snacking on paper so making sure the hard copy manuscripts were not consumed was one of my biggest challenges. HT was generally open when it came to brainstorming chapter ideas but only after two bowls of cereal and a minimum of three hours at the park. The writing process was slow.