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Good-Enough Mother: The Perfectly Imperfect Book of Parenting
 
 
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Good-Enough Mother: The Perfectly Imperfect Book of Parenting [Hardcover]

René Syler (Author), Karen Moline (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)


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Kindle Edition --  
Hardcover, Bargain Price $9.18  
Hardcover, March 27, 2007 --  
Paperback $14.95  

Book Description

141693491X 978-1416934912 March 27, 2007 1

For every woman who's passed off store-bought cakes as her own at the school bake sale comes an honest look at motherhood.

In an ideal world, mothers would have time to hand-sew their kids' costumes for the school play, prepare all-organic meals, and volunteer in the classroom at the drop of a hat. In reality, most moms have to settle for plopping their little ones in front of SpongeBob so that they can prepare yet another chicken nugget-based dinner, guiltily convinced they're falling down on the job.

In Good-Enough Mother, René Syler shares how she learned to chuck perfection for practicality. She shows other women seeking to balance family, work, and some semblance of a personal life how to happily join the ranks of good-enough mothers who occasionally serve breakfast for dinner yet give their children plenty of what really matters -- love, time, and support.

Whether it's dealing with annoying Super-Moms, bluffing through a third grader's math homework, or coping with the words that strike terror into every parent's heart ("Your son's teacher on line one"), the welcome empathy and sage advice of Good-Enough Mother will have every modern mom laughing in relief and recognition.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.


Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

All mothers want to provide their kids the perfect childhood; as such, many try to become the perfect mother. In this humorous look at modern momhood, journalist and TV personality Syler uses her own experience as a working mom of two to show how "good-enough" is the new "perfect." Each short, punchy chapter is focused loosely on a parenting topic, including spouse management, math homework, assigning chores, taking time out for friends and "flunking the PTA." Syler believes in teaching by example, a strategy she uses on her kids and her readers; in honest, conversational prose, Syler gets very personal, giving readers plenty of lengthy glimpses into the life of a minor celebrity. Though it doesn't add a whole lot to the exploding mommy-memoir canon, this will make a satisfying read for any woman who knows what it's like to scramble through the day raising children, working full time and hoping her efforts are good enough.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

René Syler has been an anchor of CBS's The Early Show. She is an active member of the National Association of Black Journalists. Syler is married to Buff Parham, with whom she has two children.

Karen Moline is a journalist, novelist, and ghostwriter. She has worked on a wide variety of bestselling books. Moline lives in New York City with her son.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Gallery Books; 1 edition (March 27, 2007)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 141693491X
  • ISBN-13: 978-1416934912
  • Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 1.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,062,812 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

13 Reviews
5 star:
 (9)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:
 (2)
2 star:
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1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.4 out of 5 stars (13 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A delightful look at motherhood!, April 20, 2007
This review is from: Good-Enough Mother: The Perfectly Imperfect Book of Parenting (Hardcover)
I absolutely loved this book! It is so nice to know that even celebrity moms struggle with many of the same trials that the rest of us face daily. In a society where women are expected to be "SUPER WOMEN," Rene reassures us that it's okay to be human! As I read the book, I found myself laughing out loud - a must-read for the overworked mother! I am recommending this book to all of my "mommy" friends.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Good Memoir...Okay Parenting Book, July 30, 2007
This review is from: Good-Enough Mother: The Perfectly Imperfect Book of Parenting (Hardcover)
I would have given this book more stars if it had been marketed differently. I think my problem with this book was viewing it as a type of parenting book. If it had instead been put into the memoir category, then I might have enjoyed it more.

I do appreciate the author's message that parents do not have to all-perfect beings. But I think I got that message somewhere in Chapter 2 or 3 and I could have skipped reading the rest of the book which was full of the author's family stories.

Instead of putting this in the parenting books, the publisher should have targeted it to working women as a "My Life in the Trenches" book. Because I think most working women are already doing a lot of what Ms. Syler recommends and could identify with her feelings and approach towards many situations.

So, if you are a fan of Ms. Syler's, then read the book and you'll get a great view of her life and her family and plenty of examples of how she puts her parenting theories into practice. And you'll learn about her house-hunting, and her shopping and bill paying habits, and her childhood, etc. This is a fun read about her day-to-day life with her family.

But if you are looking for a book that is reader-focused and targeted towards solving the readers' particular issues, then look elsewhere.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Good Idea, But Kind of Repetitive, June 27, 2007
This review is from: Good-Enough Mother: The Perfectly Imperfect Book of Parenting (Hardcover)
I liked the basic premise of the author admitting that she has flaws and shortcomings in the motherhood department. As women, we often measure our self-worth by comparing ourselves to others, so it's always comforting to read that there's another mother out there who also feels like she isn't perfect. However, there are only so many chapters I can read about this topic. It seemed like EVERY chapter was the same: some anecdote about the antics of the author's children, a cutesty self-depricating remark about the author's foibles in the face of said antics, and then the author bragging that she came through when it really counted.
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