Well, it’s not the fault of the author, but nevertheless this book was quite offensive–to my children. Karate Kid said, “OOOH! That’s disgusting!” Brown Bear Daughter asked, “Why do they have that picture on the front?” And several of the others just turned up their noses and sniffed loudly. You see my children believe they were born with diapers, or else born potty trained. When I try to tell them otherwise, they give me that incredulous look that says, “Mommy’s lost it again!”
Because of the very offensive cover art, I read Tim Bete’s opus on parenthood by myself. No one else in the family even wanted to touch it. Therefore, I got to laugh at all the stories Bete tells that parallel my own family and my own kids without offending the kids by telling them I was laughing at them. I, too, have children who were somewhat resistant to potty training (all eight of them), children who wouldn’t eat a vegetable if they were starving, and children who teach me lessons every day. I enjoyed the book because Bete’s hobbies–pushing his luck, skating on thin ice, and fishing his kids’ toys out of the toilet–sound a lot like my pastimes. As they say in the vernacular, I could identify.
The paperback book consists of nineteen chapters, each of which reads like a short course in parenting by Erma Bombeck. This humorous style is appropriate since author Tim Bete is director of the Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop at the University of Dayton. The book would be good for recreational reading, a great gift for a new father (or an old one), and perfect for any parent in need of a dose of laughter. Sometimes I just need to lighten up and realize that if my children turn out to be couch potatoes or experts in sarcasm, they at least had a good role model–me.
I got my copy of this book from Mind and Media for the purposes of review. You can purchase yours from Amazon by clicking on the graphic above, or from the publisher here. Either way you’re in for a treat.