{"id":6618,"date":"2026-06-18T10:34:58","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T10:34:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=6618"},"modified":"2026-06-18T10:34:58","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T10:34:58","slug":"daffy-by-andrea-moriarty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=6618","title":{"rendered":"Daffy by Andrea Moriarty"},"content":{"rendered":"

A generous, well-researched roadmap for overwhelmed parents of special needs kids<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Daffy, <\/em>Andrea Moriarty\u2019s third offering on autism parenting, is like a veteran mom showing a newbie the ropes. \u201cI want you to feel included\u201d<\/em><\/strong> forms the heart of the book, a sentiment that sets Daffy <\/em>apart.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTo the mom with white knuckles, unsure if she will survive her child\u2019s adolescence, I hope this book is proof that you will. It really does get easier. Think of it as ten women pushing you up the steepest part of the hill\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Moriarty wants all moms to be seen, regardless of their kid\u2019s diagnosis. This, along with her evidence-based premise that laughter is serious self-care, makes for a warmly practical read. Daffy <\/em>makes a compelling argument for the value of caretaker wellness and for laughter being a cheap, accessible way to practice it.<\/p>\n

Having raised an autistic son, Moriarty writes with hard-won authority, but she doesn\u2019t lean exclusively on her personal experiences. One of Daffy<\/em>\u2019s strengths is that it draws from the collective wisdom of a group of veteran special needs parents called the Laughter Alliance, all of whom \u201chave \u2018been there\u2019 and lived to laugh about it.\u201d <\/em><\/strong>Although Moriarty shares generously from her own life, this is not, strictly speaking, a memoir about her time in the parenting trenches. The book\u2019s true value comes from a broad combination of Moriarty\u2019s research and the Laughter Alliance\u2019s pool of wisdom.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Moriarty sets concrete goals for her reader in clear actionable prose while giving the reader permission to laugh and<\/em> struggle.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026this book will give you permission to laugh at the absurd situations we find ourselves in as moms of kids with special needs. I hereby also give you permission to get back up again when you fail. That\u2019s how we develop resilience.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The book\u2019s stated goal is to prepare the reader to start her own Laughter Alliance, which Moriarty supports, chapter by chapter, through journal prompts, life hacks and recipes. Prompts like \u201cwhat makes you a badass SPED mom?\u201d<\/em><\/strong>are designed to make the reader smile while encouraging action, self-regard and insight, and the recipes, which Moriarty calls \u201cedible life hacks,\u201d<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong> can be done alone or prepared with your kid.The one for \u201ccowboy potatoes\u201d looks especially good.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Daffy<\/em> encourages friendship and laughter, by showing readers how to \u201cbecome regulars\u201d <\/em><\/strong>in their communitydespite potential behavioral stresses. She tells stories about a line cook who knows her son\u2019s order and a grocery store employee who keeps a friendly eye on her son when he wanders\u2014little things that make a parent feel seen and supported.<\/p>\n

Moriarty works consciously to keep her message accessible but also encouraging to the potentially overwhelmed parent: \u201cDon\u2019t do what I did. In a full-court press for close to thirty years, I devoted myself to my son\u2019s progress and clearly neglected taking care of myself<\/em><\/strong>.\u201d <\/strong>She reassures the reader that she\u2019s been there. In fact, she is <\/em>the reader, she\u2019s just \u201cfurther down the pike.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Laughter is framed throughout as a healthy, positive alternative to overwhelm, but never in a way that invalidates the reader\u2019s experience. Through chapters on IEPs, toileting pitfalls, triggers, meltdowns and self-medication, Moriarty acknowledges the challenges of special needs parenting while giving examples of how to \u201cfind the funny\u201d <\/em><\/strong>because \u201cif it\u2019s bad today, it\u2019ll be funny a year from now.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Moriarty includes ample scientific support for laughter as well. Drawing from psychologists and research studies, Daffy<\/em> makes an empirical case for laughter. Moriarty doesn\u2019t expect the reader to take her premise on faith. From the importance of stress cycles to finding alternatives to common triggers, Moriarity acknowledges that \u201crescuer safety first\u201d<\/em><\/strong> is a layered challenge full of trial and error and reaching for support. The final chapter offers a \u201c<\/em>Laughter Alliance Starter Kit\u201d<\/em><\/strong>full of easy actionable steps to creating the kind of support network that Moriarty and her fellow Alliance members found in each other.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Moriarty creates a permission structure around parent and caregiver wellness with laughter and community at its compelling center. This book is a solid argument for \u201cfinding the funny\u201d in everything.<\/p>\n

The post Daffy by Andrea Moriarty<\/a> appeared first on Independent Book Review<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A generous, well-researched roadmap for overwhelmed parents of special needs kids Daffy, Andrea Moriarty\u2019s third offering on autism parenting, is like a veteran mom showing a newbie the ropes. \u201cI want you to feel included\u201d forms the heart of the book, a sentiment that sets Daffy apart.\u00a0 \u201cTo the mom with white knuckles, unsure if […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bookreviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6618"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6618\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}