Helpful Score: 7
I LOVED this book. It's a very short read. It took me about an hour. She puts into words all of the things I have thought since my son was born.
For a long time, I've been appalled by what some people consider parenting. Some people are completely obsessed with making sure their kid fits in with every other kid. To do this, they buy their kids every "right" toy they can get their hands on. They shower them with all the "right" clothes and shoes. They push their kids to ben involved in every stinking activity known to man.
It's okay if you don't do all of that! I found myself saying YES! throughout the entire book. It's a good read.
For a long time, I've been appalled by what some people consider parenting. Some people are completely obsessed with making sure their kid fits in with every other kid. To do this, they buy their kids every "right" toy they can get their hands on. They shower them with all the "right" clothes and shoes. They push their kids to ben involved in every stinking activity known to man.
It's okay if you don't do all of that! I found myself saying YES! throughout the entire book. It's a good read.
Helpful Score: 5
This book was hilarious, but it wasn't all laughs, a serious book in disguise. I suppose I am somewhat of a slacker mom myself as I found myself nodding in agreement throughout most of the book. In this book Muffy Mead-Ferro points out the ridiculousness of many fads in parenting, not to mention capitalism. I highly recommend this book, a good quick read!
Helpful Score: 3
I was a slacker Mom- I just never knew that I actually had a NAME for it- I just thought I wasn't this completely over obsessed Mother who was some sort of freak because I didn't completely flip out over the really little things-
Now that my children are in their teens! All the little things that you worried about back then seem ridiculous when you think about what faces our adolescents!
Now that my children are in their teens! All the little things that you worried about back then seem ridiculous when you think about what faces our adolescents!
Helpful Score: 3
As a self-confessed slacker mom myself, it was refreshing to see that someone else was parenting their kids with a "less is more" kind of mentality. I have never been overly sentimental or protective as a mom, and am a firm believer in natural consequences. This book reassured me that THAT'S OK and that I'm not damaging my children by my slacker ways. I highly recommend this book, both for the admitted slacker mom and for those who are seriously overprotective and need to relax and let their kids be kids.
Helpful Score: 3
Love this book! Talks about how so many children today have their lives micromanaged by their parents and how it is so unnecessary and causes unneeded frustration. Great book, highly recommended for all moms who often feel that mommy-guilt for not doing "enough" for their kids. Hilarious, quick read! A "feel good" book that banishes some of the all-too-well-known "mommy guilt"!
Helpful Score: 2
Hilarious. A little over the top sometimes for someone who does many of the things she makes fun of!
Helpful Score: 2
Though filled with humor, this book has many valuable "nuggets of truth". It alleviates some of the pressure we all feel as parents instead of making us feel bad for not making home made valentines for the whole class. :) I read this over 6 years ago before my first child was born, and I still re-read it from time to time help me "get my bearings straight".
Helpful Score: 1
Quick read
Helpful Score: 1
I agree with her theories, but she does come off as a snot, and she really just repeats the same ideas. Nice to feel someone agrees with your parenting style, though.
Helpful Score: 1
I liked this book, she actually made a lot of good points that I agree with which sort of balanced out the stuff I didn't agree with :o)
Helpful Score: 1
Very enjoyable read, especially for moms who have a hard time trying to "do it all".
Helpful Score: 1
Love this book & the authors down to earth writing. You will definitely get a laugh out of this one. Perhaps even recognize yourself in this slacker mom.
Helpful Score: 1
This is an interesting book for new mom's that think they have to buy into all the hype about perfect parenting. Literally buy into it.
Helpful Score: 1
Wonderful perspective of how marketing has made most mothers overachievers, and that it really isn't in your or your child's best interest.
Helpful Score: 1
An entertaining book that reads almost like a journal or a series of letters to a friend. There's more anecdotes and advice than information here, but it's an uplifting, fun read and a reminder that sometimes, Mother really does know best.
Too much information about how the author and her siblings were brought up on a ranch. I think that Muffy's childhood and her experience growing up in a rural area was too different from my own for me to relate to her and her own parenting style.
Great, quick read. Of all the books on parenting that I have read on how to be a parent this was the best advice I have read so far! :) Though it wasn't as funny as I thought it would be, from reading the title. Mead-Ferro reminds us that past generations have raised children w/o many of the toys, gadgets, and statistical information that we are bombarded with today.
I gathered the best way to raise a child is to allow them to think for themselves and DO for themselves. They WILL learn and are capable of so much more than we give them credit for.
I highly recommend this to new parents especially! I wish I had read this when I had my first child!
I gathered the best way to raise a child is to allow them to think for themselves and DO for themselves. They WILL learn and are capable of so much more than we give them credit for.
I highly recommend this to new parents especially! I wish I had read this when I had my first child!
This was a complete waste of time, thankfully it's only 136 pages showing she's a slacker writer too. I am a stay at home mom and she hates that. She basically thinks we are harming our children and blah blah blah, I seriously can't believe I wasted my time on that crap. I wouldn't recommend this book to my friends even if they are working moms. I wouldn't even recommend this book to my enemies so they won't waste their time. I just hate the way she looks down on stay at home moms.
Funny book about a mom who realizes she doesn't have to follow every silly whim in order to be a good parent to her children.
Mom drops out of the super competitive, super child centered world.
Had some funny parts but I found the book to be "preachy"
Great! Loved it!
this book okay...just not what I expected.
Somewhat funny book. If you're the soccer mom type who gets out of bed before the sun even wakes up and is super busy throughout the whole day...well then, this book will probably disturb you a bit. I thought it was a good book and the author does make some interesting points!
From Publishers Weekly: A welcome relief from the flood of how-to-mother-perfectly tomes, Mead-Ferro's short and sweet book is a reminder not to take parenthood so seriously. The author, who in addition to being the mother of two young children also has a demanding career as an advertising copywriter, has drawn valuable lessons in "making do" from her grandmother, who "had none of the proper equipment by today's standards" yet "never described motherhood as a hardship." Mead-Ferro doesn't care for creating clever scrapbooks, accessorizing the nursery or trying to impart baby genius status to her three-year-old. Rather, she teaches her children that "making do" with their imagination is as good a route to inspiring creativity as any educational toy. She believes in letting her kids learn that the physical world is a complicated place; it's better than smothering, isolating and "child-proofing" the world for them, she says. Rejecting the mentality that results in pre-school admission anxiety attacks and overly competitive soccer leagues for six-year-olds, Mead-Ferro both soothes and inspires as she prompts parents, and mothers in particular, to trust their own instincts rather than that of the "experts." Let the kids get messy, she says, and let them figure some things out for themselves. While Mead-Ferro's not at all sheepish about labeling this approach similar to that of a "slacker," readers will come away with the feeling that the author is in fact a wise veteran who has experienced many of the conflicting messages women face today, and who nevertheless comes up smiling.
Copyright ' Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright ' Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
I LOVED this book. So easy to read and relate to, as well as humorous and comforting. Definitely one to re-read.
Interesting read. I'm not a complete slacker Mom nor am I like the other Mom's she portrays in the books.
"the slacker mom speaks:
I think parents probably have better instincts than they know. You don't have to be a pediatrician or a child psychologist or an academicican to have some inborn wisdowm about raising your child. You just have to be a mom or dad with a sense of what's practical, and a willingness to listen to your inner voice, instead of bowing to the inevitable pressure of "perfect parenting" messages.
I think parents probably have better instincts than they know. You don't have to be a pediatrician or a child psychologist or an academicican to have some inborn wisdowm about raising your child. You just have to be a mom or dad with a sense of what's practical, and a willingness to listen to your inner voice, instead of bowing to the inevitable pressure of "perfect parenting" messages.
