A Good Mom's Guide to Making Bad Choices

By Jamilah Mapp, Erica Dickerson

The creators of the beloved podcast Good Moms Bad Choices challenge outdated notions of what being a “good” mother truly means—inviting moms of all kinds to embark on a healing journey that unlearns old scripts about motherhood and shows that you can be a little bad, and still do a lot of good for your kids and yourself.

They are everywhere on social media. Images of perfect, pleasant women with perfect, pretty children in perfect, tidy homes—the epitome of “good” moms. But this model of motherhood is an illusion that far too many women either measure themselves against or simply cannot relate to in the first place. Enter Jamilah Mapp and Erica Dickerson: if you are sex-positive, cannabis-friendly, and love sharing NSFW stories with your fellow mom friends, you’re not doing anything wrong and you are definitely not a bad mother. And Jamilah and Erica are your tribe.

These two best friends, single mothers, and creators of the Good Moms Bad Choices podcast are here to remind every woman that you can be a good mom despite not fitting the “perfect mom” standard. In this much-needed book, part memoir, part guide, and part manifesto, they bring the refreshing honesty and down-to-earth humor of their podcast to the stories of their own journeys as mothers, offering women insight and tools they can use to recognize their own past traumas, find a way to healing, and break free from unrealistic expectations of what it means to be a good parent.

Jamilah and Erica take us through their own journeys as single mothers raising children, being in (and falling out of) relationships, making mom friends, and, ultimately, finding themselves as they learned to redefine motherhood on their own terms. Uncensored, unapologetic, empathetic, and no-holds-barred, A Good Mom’s Guide to Making Bad Choices takes an unconventional and much-needed approach to motherhood that recognizes that moms are vibrant, sexual, creative beings with needs and desires that deserve to be acknowledged and respected. It’s a breath of fresh air for all moms today.