As I noted in the Campaign Launch post, when we asked our bloggers about reviewing this book, the response was overwhelming.  Not because we’ve got a bunch of competimommies writing for us - on the contrary, they already subscribe to author Dr. Ann Dunnewold’s philosophy of the “perfectly good mother”.  But we can all use a little professional reassurance that we aren’t harming our children, and that in fact, we’re doing a much better job than we allow ourselves to think.

In short, “the premise is sound: be a good-enough mom. Don’t overschedule your children and overextend yourself. Don’t make your life so child-centric and self-sacrificing that you end up running on empty. There are no gold medals in the Mommy Olympics, so you might as well walk the marathon and enjoy the scenery. Remember that if mama is happy, everybody is happy. And that means you need to take care of your needs too.”  Another blogger added: “We need to look hard at the overprotecting, overperfecting, overproducing, overscheduling lifestyle and see what really works for us and our families.”

It’s apparent from reading the reviews that “Even June Cleaver Would Forget the Juice Box” resonated with our bloggers.   One mother confessed that “its arrival in my mailbox was extremely timely - I was having one of those I’m a crappy parent days and in a funk brought on by something some pretentious twit said.  I needed some reassurance that my laid-back approach to mommyhood didn’t equal lazy and that it’s okay to be a bit selfish with my time when I need to take care of myself.”  Another mother wants Dr. Dunnewold to be her new best friend: “I want her to come to dinner at my house. I want her to teach me everything she knows and what’s even better is that I know she will understand if there is smeared peanut butter on the Dora place mats.”  Yet another mother loved this book simply because “[it] affirms what it took me three children to figure out… good enough parenting is often just what both mothers and children need.”

While the content is ”insightful, interesting, and sometimes – gulp - convicting“, it also “teaches you how to reprogram the automatic thoughts in your head that kick yourself for not being Supermom into positive thoughts to teach you how to be the Perfectly Good Mom.  It gives you tips on how to avoid falling into the traps of extreme parenting and helps you learn how to connect with other mothers…it’s a big ol’ dose of perspective.  And sometimes we moms get so bogged down in the details of life that perspective is completely missing.”

A few reviewers commented specifically on how this book addresses the so-called Mommy Wars between mothers who work outside the home and mothers who stay at home.  One mother who works outside the home noted:  “I could see the SAHM struggles more clearly and I felt that it represented the issues of the working mom as well.”  Another mother who used to work outside the home but now stays at home with her two children eloquently described the similarities between the struggles she faced in both situations:

“Too often we get caught up in overachieving in our lives, and it is really hard to step away and get perspective. When I worked in an office, this was certainly true.  I was so determined, and so dedicated to living that dream, that I lost sense of what else was important in my life.  I was so single-minded in the pursuit of success that the rest of my life was falling by the wayside.  Every now and then  I’d step back and realize that I was pouring my whole self into work and stressing myself out trying to achieve the impossible.

Now that I’m home with the kids and consulting when I can, I should be enjoying myself, delighting in their every coo and cry, and laughing along with my toddler at newly-discovered worms in the garden.  Right?  Right?  Well, most of the time I do.  But sometimes I still get stressed out.  About the house.  About the laundry.  About the lawn that needs to be cut and the hair that needs to be trimmed and the baby that just does. not. stop. nursing.  There’s so much to do, and it’s so hard to do it all perfectly.”

With respect to the difficulties of connecting with other mothers, one blogger mused: “Why is it so hard for mothers to be honest with other mothers?  Dunnewold acknowledges that letting go of the concern about what others think is essential in changing the status quo of parenting being all butterflies and rainbows. That’s a tough one. I think (and don’t judge me for saying this - that’s in the book too) that women care too much what other people think about everything.”

Finally, it seems that most of our bloggers struggle not with “keeping up with the Joneses” but simply with their own expectations.  One mother admitted:  “I don’t feel terrible about not loving motherhood all the time. It’s the hardest job I’ll ever do. There is no upside to not getting enough sleep and the ensuing insanity that results from that. The best I can do is to have a sense of humor about it, which I am successful at maybe half of the time.”  Another mother - who has three children, including two school-aged boys - has learned that: “It’s okay to let your children see you as a human being with feelings, with flaws, who makes mistakes. And it’s also okay to let your children make their own mistakes.”  Yet another mother - who has a baby girl - already wonders: “What irreversible harm will be linked back to me? Dunnewold gives moms permission to lose their temper, put themselves first once in awhile, and to be human.”

But all of our bloggers appreciated how Dunnewold let them - and all mothers - off the hooks we’ve wriggled ourselves onto, consciously or not:  “I appreciated that Dunnewold left room for each of our own idiosyncrasies, we can each have one or two things that we obsess over and if we can just chill out about everything else, that is fine.”

Stay tuned for the second half of this campaign - we’ve got thirteen more bloggers who will review “Even June Cleaver Would Forget the Juice Box”, plus the Round-Up Review here at PBN.

Monday, 5/14 - Boston Mamas, Rookie Moms, Surrender Dorothy 

Tuesday, 5/15 - Chaos Theory, Chicken and Cheese

Wednesday, 5/16 - Little Bird Reviews, Metro Mama

Thursday, 5/17 - Builder Mama, Mummy’s Product Reviews

Friday, 5/18 - Plain Jane Mom

Monday, 5/21 - Bananas and Toddlers, Domestic Diva, Mother Bumper

Tuesday, 5/22 - Quarter Rest 

Wednesday, 5/23 - Round-Up Review on PBN