You Might As Well Laugh: A Working Mother's #1 Rule [Hardcover]

Sandi Kahn Shelton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 25, 1997

Sandi Kahn Shelton's hailarious tales from the front-lines of parenthood connect with parents, grandparents and parents-to-be.

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

A selection of lighthearted, sometimes very funny newspaper and magazine columns about the perils of raising children and holding a job at the same time. A columnist/feature writer for the New Haven Register and for Working Mother magazine, Shelton gets great mileage from her descriptions of life with a husband (her second), two teenagers, and a toddler. Maternal survival (and sanity), she suggests, demands a sense of humor and a respect for the idiosyncrasies of one's family members. Shelton has both. Her topics range from ``sock bumps'' (socks were also a favorite topic of the late Erma Bombeck, to whom Shelton is perhaps prematurely compared) to the moment when she fell from the pedestal as an Enlightened Parent of the 1990s. That happened, she explains, when she heard herself abandon reason, empathy, and alternatives--the power tools of modern parenting--to fall back on such old-fashioned imperatives as ``get down [off that table] right this minute, or you're going to fall off and break your neck and you'll never walk again.'' Several columns offer the seemingly obligatory confessions of electronic ineptness (is there no popular writer who understands and enjoys technology?). Most charming are the tales of her daughter Stephanie, who goes from being a toddler to attending kindergarten in the course of these tales, and who is as enchanting to the reader as she is to her parents. Stephanie is the doyenne of an Object Relocation Program, which assigns Mom's wallet as a sleeping bag for Barbie and Mrs. Butterworth (a pancake syrup bottle) to babysit Barbie's baby. Shelton also muses on more adult concerns, including meditation, the dangerous month of February (``too cold, too difficult, and just too much trouble''), and the nature of family loyalty. A cheerful, flippant view of family life, with a compassionate undercurrent that gives these observations weight. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Review

"I'm thankful that this very funny and observant lady is a writer and not a cartoonist." --Bil Keane creator of The Family Circus comic strip

"A cheerful, flippant view of family life, with a compassionate undercurrent." --Kirkus Reviews

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 284 pages
• Publisher: Bancroft Press; 1st edition (April 25, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0963124633
• ISBN-13: 978-0963124630
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,827,275 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I was born in Jacksonville, Florida, where I wrote my first book of fiction (a story about a king who was tired) when I was five years old and sold it to the neighbors so I could get money for ice cream. Since then, I've been a newspaper reporter, a columnist for Working Mother magazine, a free-lance writer, the author of three non-fiction humor books about parenting--and now, at last, as the author of two novels, I'm happy to be back to my fiction roots. Someday perhaps I'll do an update on the tired king. Meanwhile, I'm working on a new book, a love story, in between letting my golden retriever in and out of the house every couple of minutes or so.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You CAN only laugh!, December 1, 1999

By 

Valsala (India) - See all my reviews

This review is from: You Might As Well Laugh: Because crying will only smear your mascara (Mass Market Paperback)

I came upon this book quite by accident. I've not laughed quite as helplessly for a long time. I really got an ache in my side! Her style is simply delicious and the feelings picturised are so familiar that even as you laugh you get that gentle, comforting feeling of having someone understand just what it was like......

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great bedside reading, May 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: You Might As Well Laugh: A Working Mother's #1 Rule (Hardcover)

Sandi Kahn Shelton is just the sort of person I want to hear from at the end of a long day. Her stories about family mishaps made me laugh out loud--and helped me see the humor in my own life, too.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I laughed 'til I cried!, May 30, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: You Might As Well Laugh: Because crying will only smear your mascara (Mass Market Paperback)

Sleeping throught the Night is a very funny look at Parenting. I was reading through tears of laughter for the majority of the book! For anyone who is a parent, but especially for new parents who are going through the experience at the same time, this book is a must-have!