Have you ever said to yourself “I am the crappiest mother in the universe?” Personally, I’m saying it to myself right now after the day I’ve had. Mr. Plain isn’t going to be home until after kid bedtime, what the new puppy isn’t peeing on she’s trying to chew up, and the boys have been on a serious rampage of bad behavior.

It is really tempting to take the “fun” and “excitement” of a day like today and only remember the times I yelled or otherwise lost my mind, but instead I’m sitting here making myself remember the good parts of the day. For example, Mike and I had fun playing Dinosaur bingo, and… well that’s the only highlight I can remember from today so far. And that’s going to have to be enough.

And I know one person who would tell me that today I was a Perfectly Good Mother: Ann Dunnewold, Ph. D. She’s the author of a new parenting book called “Even June Cleaver Would Forget the Juice Box: Cut Yourself Some Slack (and Still Raise Great Kids) in the Age of Extreme Parenting.”

Putting aside the obvious problem of the far-too-long-and-colon-ed title, this is a fantastic book. I typically LOATHE parenting books because they come off so preachy and my-way-or-the-highway, but this book is relaxing.

It doesn’t tell you to start slacking off and merely make sure that your offspring stay alive (or “off the pole”), but it does remind you that if you need to take an afternoon and parent like that in order to save your sanity, don’t sweat it. Your kids won’t become hatchet murderers because of an afternoon of benign neglect.

I started folding the corners of pages that had sections that spoke to me, and I would have done better just dunking the entire work in a bucket of highlighter ink. I only had time to read about 5 pages in a sitting (surprise) so I dragged it along with me wherever I went. Consequently it is stained, bent, rippled from a coffee spill (yeah, coffee, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it), and scraped up as if I dragged it behind my car. (Did I? Hmmm… I no longer remember.)

But even battle-worn, this book has a place of honor on my bookshelf. It is another voice in the chorus of anti-competimommies shouting that you can be a great Mom without giving up your soul. Without leaving behind everything that is unique about yourself as a person. Without turning yourself into a machine for cranking out perfection in a size 5T. Relax moms, we’re all doing a Perfectly Good Job.

When I was a kid my Dad bought me The Boy Scout Handbook. It was full of cool tips and information, but there was way too much emphasis on “being clean.” Now I understand what that was about, and I’m not interested in passing that book down to my kids.

But I’m definitly not crying salty tears, because now there’s a new book that is several orders of magnitude better: The Dangerous Book for Boys. I love it and so does Mr. Plain! If you have a short attention span just skip reading the rest of the review and buy the book. If you want details, however, read on.

In a closet at my grandparents house was a stack of ancient hardcover kids “How To” books. They contained all sorts of ideas for toys to build, and games to play as well as great stories. The only problem was that since the books were so old, I never had any of the weird supplies the projects required. The Dangerous Book for Boys takes the best of those books and distills it into one easy to use reference book that kids can use today.

Everything from “Building a Tree House” to “A Brief History of Artillery” is here. The basics of first aid, how to play stickball, selections from Shakespeare, juggling, making marbled paper, dog tricks, wrapping a package with no tape, coin tricks, learning grammar, the history of famous battles, how to make fireproof cloth, building a go-cart, and on and on!

The scope of this book is amazing, and the authors are never condescending. Of course they tell the kids when they’re going to need the help of an adult or when something isn’t safe to do alone, but for the most part kids are able to enjoy this book on their own if they want to.

This book is empowering. It is also fun, educational, exciting, silly, serious, and most of all: essential. I would have loved a copy when I was a kid. This first copy will go to Mike after he masters reading, but I suspect I’ll be getting copies for Robbie and Chip soon enough.

Do you like to win stuff? Leave a comment on this post over at the Parent Bloggers Network to be entered to win a 2-man North Face tent!

At 2.5 Chip is starting to think about the potty. I’m not interested in getting him started on potty training until he’s 3, but I’m exposing him to the ideas now so that he’ll be thinking about it beforehand.

He’s not really into most movies, but boy does he sit still for “Go Potty Go!” There’s just something about this DVD that fascinates him. There have been several mornings when the first words out of his mouth were “Go Po-Y Go?” and I’ve even heard his big brothers singing the songs around the house.

It’s a cute animated story about two pandas named Paige and Parker. They’re learning to use the potty, and with their animal friends they sing songs and dance their way through all the pertinent topics.

For example, there are several Question and Answer sections with topics like “Is this a potty chair?” “What do you do after going potty?” “Is this something you can do while sitting on the potty?” And each time, Chip is answering questions and paying strict attention to the action on the screen.

This cute video is a great introduction to potty training and has earned the Chip Seal of Approval. :)