Customer comments on this selection.
 Finally a dose of reality!!!
I absolutely loved this book! It was a breath of fresh air in the age of overscheduled, over indulged children. "Slacker" is truly not a description for this woman. One of the most difficult things to do is to NOT give your children every material item if you have the ability to. Muffy explains how many times less is more. You get creative, active, responsible kids not spoiled, over-indulged ones.
 sort of funny, sort of not
If you want a quick little read, this book will do the trick. If you want a book to make you feel better and a little less guilty about all of the things you should be doing but aren't, this book falls flat. I found some light humor in it but only because I didn't stop and think too much. I was expecting something different from the word "slacker". I was thinking about how I have to step over and around all of the toys, dirty clothes, and general stuff in my house any day except for the days I spend cleaning and screaming "don't just leave that there!" I don't really think that not showing up to watch my daughter's riding lesson is being a slacker, I think that it is showing her how much I don't give a crap about what she is doing. I also don't think slacker means watching while one of my children get hurt. I have another word for that and it is too harsh for this thread. I am a firm believer in showing your children how to treat others. With that in mind, I don't want to be in some nursing home in 40 years while my kids don't ever come to visit because they don't want to let me think I am the center of the universe.
 Refreshing 2!
I just read this book and it was a breath of fresh air. It doesn't bother me that she has a nanny, lucky for her is what I say. I love the basic premise of the book and realize that it has a lot of good points in it! Our kids are wonderful and I love mine dearly but they don't need EVERYTHING and do need boundaries. The current age thinking is not on track IMO and I think a little throw back to the "good ole days" would do us some good. I am not advocating child labor or anything like that but just wishing a little more common sense would come back into style besides hoping that someone else would tell you how to raise your kids right!
Muffy Madness
I'm sorry, I can't take seriously anything that a woman named Muffy with a nanny has to say.
What's wrong with moderation here? Why does everything have to be win/lose in this society...working moms vs. stay-at-home moms, slacker moms vs. Type A moms? Nothing is that black and white. I am sick of the media spinning every possible subject re parenting and women into an all-out war. Somewhere in the middle, in my opinion, is the best path.
Work if you have to or want to, but be there and show up for your kids. Let them know you love them and support them, but carve out a little time for yourself, too, whether it's a chair massage once a week or a weekend trip with the girls!
Some days I am a slacker mom, some days I am a type-A stressed-out mom on deadline, some days I am stay-at-home domestic scrapbooking mom, some days I am overprotective mom, and some days I am "I don't feel good today, you're just going to have to figure it out yourself" mom. And you know what? I think I'm a great mom. I have a happy kid who does great in school and is learning that life is not perfect and people are multi-dimensional and ever-evolving, not one-note characters in a book! That's good enough for me.
A Voice of Reason
When I first found out I was pregnant, one of my best friends sent me all the books she had read when she was pregnant with her first. Of all that she sent--and many were good--this one has helped me to keep my sanity. I'm due in 3 weeks and anytime I start to panic about silly things like having the right "stuff," I think about this book and relax. The baby-sleeping-in-a-crab-cage story has been the best at getting to take everything a little less seriously and to enjoy this process a bit more.
Yes, the author has some benefits that others don't. Certainly, she makes more than I do, but it's nice to know that it doesn't have to be all-consuming and that a person can be a good mom even if she doesn't cease to exist except to carpool children around and be a toy-buyer/picker-upper. I know that sounds like common sense, but sometimes the other books, articles (and posts), friends, family members, and strangers can lay a lot of guilt at a mother's feet.
And for the record, the scrap-booking section is a hoot. My mother scrapbooks like a fiend and each book is really a work of art, so I don't have any problem with others doing it. What is funny is the author's reaction to the scrap-booking party itself. I have a good friend who is a college instructor, and I remember her coming to me at the beginning of a semester saying, "About ten of my students have posted scrap-booking as a hobby," (she teaches online courses)"and I don't even understand what that means." I explained and she said, "And that's a hobby? Lots of people do that? I don't get it." So the author's behavior made me think of that. I didn't think my friend was condemning all scrap-bookers. It just wasn't an activity that she understood.
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