I agonised for ages (well about 2.63 minutes) over what to call this post, the other titles in the running were-
Never Underestimate The Productivity of a Mental
What I Ended Up Doing With That Anger
For Anyone Doubting That Bipolar Diagnosis….
I Wrote A Book! (but it’s not the book I thought up in Paris)
My Hands Are Covered In Felt-Tip
I could go on. Anyway I’ve ranted about children’s books somewhere else in this blog- I was annoyed last night about the lack of books available for children of single parents- all the families in books are one mum, one dad, kids and a smiley dog. My research last time I ranted about this told me there were more books aimed at the children of LGBT parents that there were of single parents. This turned into a Twitter conversation about the lack of books for the children of mentalists. I had a quick look on Amazon and there are a few rather dour texts about depression but nothing aimed at the children of bipolar parents.
So I had an idea- a great feeling that I haven’t had for ages, sat down at the kitchen table at 8.30pm last night and here is what I came up with. Again I lament the fact that actual talent doesn’t match creative desire but it is if nothing else my own unique style. I’m not convinced it’s suitable for children at all although the six year old seemed to like it.
I love your feedback and I know I’m shit at replying to comments and great at replying to tweets but if you’re moved to say anything about this post at all- please please leave a comment, tweets are so fleeting but I can keep blog comments forever- but do keep tweeting, especially if you plan to use the word “awesome”.
You made me cry…..its lovely and awesome just like you x
Why do I always make people cry on my blog? Is that a good thing? I’m never sure. Glad you liked it bee vomit, I enjoyed doing it.
Zoe
Xxx
Awesome
Very fabby indeed missus. xx
Thank you very much, awesome and fabby are high accolades indeed!
Zoe
Xxx
This is a brillant post…I am so pleased I came across your post..Are you Scottish too?….i shall look you up on twitter…ELiza Keating
Thank you, I am Scottish- live in St Andrews, Fife (despise golf and royalty, quite fond of students). On Twitter @Zoe_Smith
Zoe
Xxx
That is fucking awsome
Thank you and don’t tell anybody right but I think that might be my favourite blog comment- ever. Swearing, using “fucking” and saying awesome if you’d thrown in a “fab” it would be the outright all-time winner.
Zoe
Xxx
I do plan to use the word awesome!!
I love it!
It clearly and simply shows the oppositional behaviour that can be perceived by children, and ends with the most important thing – behaviour changes but the underlying love doesn’t.
Truly. This should be sent to mental health charities & a childrens publisher as an brilliant idea and format.
Thank you, I never thought of any of the things you pointed out good interpretation! I’m kind of in the “doing” phase at the moment.
Zoe
Xxx
Bloody love it! Well done!! Xxx
Thank you, good swearing, I appreciate it you are obviously familiar with my love of cursing.
Zoe
Xxx
The mama is inspirational … Always!!
The mama is awesome … Always!!
The mama has a lot more strength than she gives herself credit for … ALWAYS!!!
Love it Zoe, its fabulously amazingly awesome!!! Xxx
Thank you. That can be the sequel…..when I’ve had enough therapy to believe it.
Zoe
Xxx
Love it, love it love it! & it is totally awesome, just like you
x
Thank you. I quite like it too, it’s amazing what can come out of such an unkempt head sometimes- and I managed to work the scanner and not trash the house!
Zoe
Xxx
Awesome! Who do we know in children’s publishing? Because honestly this needs to be shared with the world.
Thank you. I can’t imagine the publishers are going to be phoning any time soon- and even if they do I won’t answer so if you find one, pass on my email address!
Zoe
Xxx
I love it, my mamma was mental too I would have appriciated this as a kid and I am sure my helsibabbas would appriciate it to if there are any.
Thank you. Well as you’ve been the best 600th @Zoe_Smith follower ever I can be confident that having a mental Mama has little effect on a child- unless we’re talking about an uneven amount of stairs.
Zoe
Xxx
Oh wow hunny!!!!! GREAT STUFF!!! you should definitely do more!!
Thank you, it’s like I told you- I’m mental, I have hundreds of books in my head- but I never knew I had this one til 8.30 last night, who knows what tomorrows one will be?!
Zoe
Xxx
genius is a very over used word but you are. just brilliant blog, the book is perfect and seriously needs to be published. good stuff.
Thank you. Genius may well be an overused word but then so are fab and awesome and I like those too. Just think of the life experience he’s getting…..
Zoe
Xxx
this is amazing! just made me smile, this made my morning, love your drawing style and its a great idea! A++++++
http://vasare.wordpress.com/
Thank you. I love that you think I have a “drawing style” that makes me feel like I’ve achieved something, I suspect the word you’re looking for is naive….
Zoe
Xxx
awesome indeed. I also really like the photograph of your hand with all the felt pen on – productiveness personified or maybe it just reminded me of being little and the pleasure of colouring in. xx
Thank you, rainbow hands- its fab though I hated colouring in as a child as I was clumsy and couldn’t stay in the lines.
Zoe
Xxx
Beyond awesome. THIS NEEDS TO BE PUBLISHED. Who knows a publisher?
I especially like that the little one is happy playing indoors as well as going to the zoo =]
Also… is that a Dyson? It kicks ass.
Thank you. The little one- I think that’s what they refer to in the trade as “resilience” Ali! And yes it is a Dyson- because you can remove all the parts of a Dyson and wash them….
Zoe
Xxx
Awesome indeed. Needs to be published.
Thank you, it has been published on one of the best blogs on the internet, I suspect that is as far as my fame and colouring in will reach- close enough.
Zoe
Xxx
FANFUCKINGTASTIC…..
that’s all
:O)
xxx
Excellent use of fuck there, good job.
Zoe
Xxx
Like the book glad I sparked your creativity
Glad you like it and thank you for the spark, I won’t do you the disservice of crediting you with the explosion that followed after the spark though!
Zoe
Xxx
How lucky that I discovered your blog on this particular post. It is fucking fabulously awesome. I agree with all the rest it really does need to be published, I could have used it as a kid and and I would have liked to have it for my kids when they were little. Your art work is just as brilliant as your words.
I’m glad you discovered my blog today as well and thank you for your nice comments and good swearing.
Zoe
Xxx
Awesome. Just awesome. That needs to be published.
You said awesome twice, that’s fab (even better than awesome in my humble opinion).
Zoe
Xxx
Now that`s a great use of time and talent. Maybe you put as much of both into cleaning the house or assembling trampolines, but this is something even I can appreciate for what it is. Fandabydoubledozy as wee Jimmy used to say – does that count as swearing? Christ, I don’t have to pay the wee shit a royalty fee do I? Thanks for, yet again, brightening up my already blindingly bright day. xxx
And why don’t you appreciate my trampoline or obsessively well organised kitchen for what it is? Call yourself a friend? I fucking hate the Krankies, you know that, never bring them to my blog again.
Zoe
Xxx
supercalafragaliciousexpialidocious wee zoe! MUST be published asap and damn it you made me cry x
I made you cry? HA! The shoe is on the other foot now, how do you like that?! Glad you liked it.
Zoe
Xxx
It’s amazing. Probably a better book than the Paris edition?? Who knows? – LOADS of kids would identify with it, and be glad that at last there is something about them and their world!! I’ve done the whole tears and fucking awesome bit.
I just love you x
Oh no the Paris one is far far better I just haven’t quite worked it out in my head yet, I assume that I’ll wake up one day and it’ll just be there- just like this one was. Thank you for indirectly saying fucking awesome and thank you for continuing to love me.
Zoe
Xxx
What they said! It’s great, please, please try to get it published!
Thank you, I’m glad you liked it.
Zoe
Xxx
i asked daddy to say that this a fableous book
Could you also tell daddy that your name is The Six Year Old- and thanks peanut and sorry. Love you ever so much.
Mama
Xxx
cute
Love it love it and love your fabulous frickin awesomeness. Manic or not, this was useful. Just don’t delete / bin this in a tidy phase, please?? This needs, at the very least, framing & sticking on a wall in your house. Think of a couple more ‘My Mama…’s and you really need a publisher.
x
Thanks Shel. It’s weird, it was manic, this wasn’t there before 8.30pm last night, it’s not my book, my book is still stuck in my head and in a few notes on the back of Parisian hotel notepaper. I’d love a publisher for that.
Zoe
Xxx
I am also bipolar. And I love it. I’m also struggling with the title. To be fair, this is the first of your blog posts I have read, and I don’t really understand where you’re coming from when you use the term ‘mental’. I think the title would be just fine as “My Mama is Bipolar.” I try to change perceptions of mental illness, and to be honest, if I heard someone being called ‘mental’, I’d probably have a few choice words to say. But then again, you are referring to yourself (and you use the term in your blog name), so I probably shouldn’t be so critical. I do think that you’ve found a really simple way to share with both young and old what our lives can be like. And I love it and think others will also love it and it could be published and be successful and so on. I just wouldn’t want to give your audience license to use the term negatively towards someone. But I could be way out of touch on this one and if so, I apologize…
Hi thanks for commenting. On the use of the word “mental”, I do it all the time and so do my fellow mentalists- there are a whole community out there happy to refer to themselves as mental, as mentalists, we’re rather a large movement. I don’t know if this is a “get in there before they do” type thing or just trying to make light of what is an horrendous place to exist. It sits well with me, I’m happy to describe myself as mental as my kids do too, it’s helped demystify things a bit and can sometime much more easily explain my behaviour than a simple label of bipolar. It’s quite hard to explain now that I think about it but so many of us do it- it’s no better or worse than “mentally ill”. There’s a post on the blog somewhere called “semantics” where I talk about MH and language, you may find it interesting.
I think it’s a word the mentalist community have reclaimed.
Having said that, I’m sorry if it offends you, I appreciate we all move in different circles and that’s acceptable to one may not be acceptable to another, I am also very fortunate to have never been on the receiving end of abuse as a result of my mental health problems.
Sometimes though, when asked how I’m feeling on a particular day, nothing sums it up better than a simple reply of “mental” quicker and easier to say “emotionally labile, racing thoughts, intrusive thoughts, suicidal ideation etc…”
Thanks for reading, hope you hang around.
Zoe
Xxx
See, I had no idea! But I like the idea of ‘reclaiming’ the word. Well as I said, I really like your book idea and I’ll have to check out more on your blog. Take care.
Thanks, it’s a good read if I may dare say so myself!
Zoe
Xxx
Here’s a link to that post http://mentalpoliticalparent.wordpress.com/2010/05/09/semantics/ though discussing semantics and mental health is something I do often on the blog, its one of my favourite subjects!
I leave you alone for 3 weeks and… well, you’ve done well. Ok you’ve run the gamut but then maybe you’re starting to see either:
A) You’re cycing relatively quickly
or
b) You’re better at coping than you first thought.
Missed ya
A big high-five to the man for spotting that by today I’d be back in my familiar, glued to the bed, wishing I was dead position. Again, I never saw it coming til it was here.
Nice to have you back.
Zoe
Xxx
That’s fantastic Zoe, there should be an additional page with washing of the said Dyson!! Brought a tear to my eye, in a good way xx
Thank you. I wasn’t sure how to frame the OCD tendencies on a child friendly way, I’ll wait for the next manic episode and hope genius strikes.
Zoe
Xxx
You rock, Zoe, always have done, always will do. Jessica Kinglsey Publishers would be a good starting point (http://www.jkp.com/). Suzanne & Phoebe Caldwell have had some stuff published through them, it would defo be worth making contact with them. xx
Thank you. Lovely to hear from you, I’m not particularly driven to have it published for various quite mental reasons I won’t go into here. Obviously any publishers reading this who want to offer me loads of cash for it feel free to contact me…
Zoe
Xxx
Should be made into an awesome posters or leaflet. Speak to bipolar Scotland….I’d use it in training.
C
Thank you. It would look rather cool on a poster wouldn’t it? I’d let you use it in training.
Zoe
Xxx
[...] at Mental Political Parent has been thinking about how there are few children’s books that attempt to explain mentalism, in particular, bipolar. This post also really made me want to buy felt pens, which is never a bad [...]
I love it
You rock Zoe
Thank you. That’s an awfully nice thing to say, I appreciate it.
Zoe
Xxx
Love it!
I can’t imagine when I battled the dark clouds to tackle a small person too. Inspiring!
Thank you. Small people (and medium people and big people) are difficult to deal with in the maelstrom of poor MH but they do keep you going too.
Zoe
Xxx
Gorgeous- all that I said in my response to the revels post again! I have kids too. Very hard trying to combine being bipolar and being a parent at times! I guess I’m lucky as my oldest was just on the cusp of real consciousness of the situation when I came out of my last episode. I dread another one though, as I think even now they would be more affected by it, and that can only increase as they get older. Ultimately though what you say is right- what’s really important isn’t that we’re perfect parents, it’s that we love them and they know it.
Thank you. I tend to try and not think too much about the effect this has on my kids- don’t get me wrong I do invest a large amount of time beating myself up about being a terrible mother but it’s not like I chose to go mental and at least I’m doing what I can to deal with it.
I think there are some distinct advantages to having a mental parent- when it’s good (days out, new stuff, lots of playing)
But distinct disadvantages when it’s bad (mama hiding in bed for days at a time, cereal for dinner)
I think it’s an area of inclusion and anti-stigma we might not necessarily have addressed within the family if I’d not gone mental. We are generally a liberal lefty type bunch but had never really discussed mental health much before. It’s another life experience that will make them better people in the long run. *crosses fingers, hopes she’s right*
I think it’s like anything else with kids- once they get to a certain age they blame you for everything anyway, so you might as well have some fun along the way!
Zoe
Xxx
Hi
I found your blog only few weeks ago, have been reading faithfully since, but have not commented et.
This book is awesome, simply awesome and I am using this word on my own not because you mentioned it! My kids, being kids of a mentalist ( Pointing at myself), would greatly enjoy your book!!!
Thanks for your awesome blog and tweeter feed!
Thank you. I’m glad you enjoyed the book and the blog and my Tweets, I enjoy doing them. Always a pleasure to meet a fellow mentalist.
Zoe
Xxx
[...] If you enjoyed this post, please leave a comment and if you enjoyed this you my well like this too Problem Solving. [...]
I think that’s a great attitude- ironically the guilt and the self-flagellation probably increase the chances of the kids suffering. Sometimes they are unavoidable though as they can be symptoms of the illness
This is so super fab! I’m sure a lot more people beyond 6yo+ would benefit from reading/seeing it!
Thank you. Fab is the best word, putting it after super just enhances its power.
Zoe
Xxx
I just found this blog entry by chance. You made me cry, but in a good way. It’s awesome. [Sorry, I don't swear at this hour, I need more coffee before the swearing bit wakes up.]
Even when you are desperate for the offspring to give you a bit of peace it’s clear how much you love them. I love your writing, I love your drawing, I love your tweets. Your children are lucky to have you and they know you love them. Always. xx