While I love to read parenting books written by “experts” that offer tips and techniques on ways I can be a more effective parent, I also love to read humorous books written by regular old parents that show the lighter side of parenting. Such is the case with these two little books I discovered on a recent visit to the library: Confessions of a Slacker Mom by Muffy Mead-Ferro and Mad Dog Mom (Or If All Else Fails, Lower Your Expectations) by Susan Murphy.
The underlying message in Slacker Mom is that we should not try to be super moms and that kids should learn to do things for themselves sometimes. And we as parents should, well to put it bluntly, get a life. The author also tells us that it is okay to make due with less and that we can save precious time (and money) by not trying to compete with the super mom next door. The book runs just over 100 pages and is so funny you can probably read it in one sitting.
One of the things the author touches upon is how advertisers try to use guilt-trips in their messages when trying to get moms to buy item, for example, a certain brand of diapers. They try to make you feel that if you don’t buy brand X you’re not only incompetent but a bad mother.
She also talks about how parents buy their babies an overabundance of things, especially toys. She related a story of how she and her husband and their daughter once went on a trip with another couple and their child. They showed up with basically no toys, just a car seat and a diaper bag. On the other hand, the other couple’s SUV was packed “window to window” with the other child’s toys and other assorted goodies. She was feeling guilty about her daughter’s lack of toys until her daughter made toys out of things that were already there. For instance, she found a stick from a marshmallow roast that she picked up and went around banging on things with and was perfectly content. This has happened to me every Christmas and birthday since Tyler was born. He seems to be just as content many times playing with the boxes items come in. He has a ton of toys but I can count on one hand the toys he actually plays with. He’s just as content using his imagination to pretend that a box is really a castle.
In part II, I’ll tell you more about this funny book and about Mad Dog Mom.