Turnip-Led Weaning

Turnip-Led Weaning…’ is Supernanny on acid: a handbag-sized, laugh-out-loud parody of mainstream parenting advice. Angelica Fustain is a spoof nanny who covers all the crucial topics of preschooler care - from crying to sleeping and clothing to discipline - but all from a deliciously outrageous viewpoint.

Angelica’s motivation is to protect society from the terrible effects of poor parenting. She is neither a parent nor a childcare professional herself, but her cluelessness doesn’t stop her being outrageously prescriptive and forceful:

• She champions the rights of innocent bystanders: “It’s your moral duty to invest in adequate sound proofing so baby’s screaming won’t interfere with your neighbours’ bedtime reading.” • She mentions the unmentionable: “When friends say they would love to see your child they really mean in a picture on Facebook.” • She believes that hard work always pays off: “By all means use a tumble dryer … but you can enhance the parent-child bond quite magically by singing your children’s clothes dry with your warm breath.” • She never misses an opportunity to promote her wide range of merchandise: “You can buy a range of Trudy Truelove ready-made clothes from my website, all reassuringly priced at more than £85 to make sure you never see a child emerge from Aldi wearing the same outfit as your treasured offspring.”

‘Turnip-Led Weaning…’ has been reviewed by a sample cross section of readers and the feedback has been terrific. Readers say that not only is the book very funny, it has also put the modern obsession with ‘perfect parenting’ into perspective and helped them to relax about their own efforts