Momfidence!

September 4, 2006
When a lawyer in California tries to ban the sale of Oreos to minors, Paula Spencer comes to the rescue, showing how good old common sense trumps the "parenting experts" any day. The author and mother of four, who writes the "Momfidence" column in Woman's Day magazine, dispenses what she's learned on the job in an upbeat, funny and practical way: "There is no right or wrong way to do most of the business of parenting. There is, however, almost always a more expedient one." Debunking parenting overkill, Spencer provides helpful reality checks ("Every firstborn is a guinea pig") and reassuring tales of her own moments of doubt, poking fun along the way at health trends, safety angst and the overwhelming number of childhood experts ready to make your parenting decisions for you: "No matter how many tax dollars are being spent ... on researchers dissecting the minds, bodies and stomachs of our kids, raising a child will always be an art form, not a science." For Spencer, parenting is about mothers doing what works for them, losing their guilt and having confidence in their choices-whether that means bedtime at 8:00 p.m. sharp, drugging your kids with TV, or choosing to feed your picky child "whatever he will eat."

September 11, 2006
When a lawyer in California tries to ban the sale of Oreos to minors, Paula Spencer comes to the rescue, showing how good old common sense trumps the "parenting experts" any day. The author and mother of four, who writes the "Momfidence" column in Woman's Day magazine, dispenses what she's learned on the job in an upbeat, funny and practical way: "There is no right or wrong way to do most of the business of parenting. There is, however, almost always a more expedient one." Debunking parenting overkill, Spencer provides helpful reality checks ("Every firstborn is a guinea pig") and reassuring tales of her own moments of doubt, poking fun along the way at health trends, safety angst and the overwhelming number of childhood experts ready to make your parenting decisions for you: "No matter how many tax dollars are being spent ... on researchers dissecting the minds, bodies and stomachs of our kids, raising a child will always be an art form, not a science." For Spencer, parenting is about mothers doing what works for them, losing their guilt and having confidence in their choices-whether that means bedtime at 8:00 p.m. sharp, drugging your kids with TV, or choosing to feed your picky child "whatever he will eat."

Copyright 2006 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.