Some are funny, some are goofy. And some are just painful. But most of the confessions in "Dirty Little Secrets From Otherwise Perfect Moms" (Chronicle Books, $12.95) will be a relief to women who have lost their Mother of the Year title more times than they can count.San Francisco Bay Area authors Trisha Ashworth and Amy Nobile, with five children ages 8 and under between them, wrote the book after interviewing hundreds of mothers for their first book, "I Was a Really Good Mom Before I Had Kids." Nobile said the vast majority of moms demonstrated the "22-minute threshold.""For the first 22 minutes, they talked about how great everything is, and then finally broke down and admitted how they really felt. They hadn't showered in four days, hadn't had sex in three weeks, felt like everyone else has it all together."They hope that their books and Web site (www.reallygoodmom.com) will encourage young mothers to shed their bravado and share their private yearnings and anxieties with people they trust.Among many intriguing confessions:-- "I can't wait for my husband and kids to leave the house in the morning."-- "I signed my son up for karate because the instructor is hot."-- "I exaggerated the pain of a breast infection so I could justify not breastfeeding."-- "I threw away my birth-control pills and he doesn't know."-- "I lied and told my son's preschool that he was potty-trained so he could get in. I acted surprised when he had an 'accident' every day."-- "My mother-in-law mails homemade cookies to the kids because she knows I won't make them."-- "Sometimes I purposely stay at work one hour longer at the end of the day so I 'miss' the bedtime routine."-- "I have pinched my daughter's arm so hard I leave a mark."(Contact Gail Rosenblum at grosenblum(at)startribune.com.)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
Post new comment