Mary Poppins Doesn't Exist: What Twenty Two Au Pairs Taught Me About America's Care Crisis

Mary Poppins Doesn't Exist is a brutally honest, humorous, and insightful memoir that shatters the myth of the perfect caregiver. As a working mother, OBGYN, and Black woman in America, Dr. Seanna Thompson has navigated the impossible balancing act of career, family, and childcare - cycling through 22 caregivers, including 17 au pairs, over a decade.

With wit and unflinching candor, she pulls back the curtain on the realities of the au pair system, the cultural clashes, the absurd expectations placed on working mothers, and the messy, often chaotic, truth of trying to "have it all." From teenage nannies with questionable motives to den mothers with hidden agendas, from sage-burning governesses to voodoo dolls left behind in a bedroom - this book is an unfiltered look at what happens when idealized childcare fantasies meet the real world.

For anyone who has ever struggled with the weight of motherhood, juggled impossible expectations, or simply wondered why Mary Poppins never showed up at their door, this book is a must-read. Hilarious, raw, and refreshingly relatable, Mary Poppin Doesn't Exist is a story of survival, sacrifice, and the truth about raising kids in modern America.