Dirty Little Secrets

When I was pregnant with my son, I always dreamed of the mom I would soon be. I would be perfectly put together. I would bake whole-grain cookies and serve balanced meals that we would all eat together at the table after saying grace. I would do crafts and build cool forts with blankets. I would be patient. I would only buy gender-neutral, educational toys. Then, I had my son. And all those ideas, they flew out the window with my sanity. Being a parent, more often than not, is just a daily game of survival-and often, I would easily get voted off this island.

Dirty Little Secrets from Otherwise Perfect Moms is a book to revel in our imperfections. Mothers tend to "withhold the truth" from other mothers, as if revealing our imperfections somehow makes us a failure. Instead, we bottle it up and act like everything is perfect and balanced. In this new book, Trisha Ashworth and Amy Nobile (also authors of I Was a Really Good Mom Before I Had Kids) got moms to reveal their deepest, darkest secrets of motherhood. At times, I giggled. Sometimes, my mouth dropped in horror. Other times, I found myself nodding in agreement. All the time, I was taken with how honest these mothers were being.

The hardest part of motherhood for me is the constant feeling that other mothers are better mothers than I am. Dirty Little Secrets makes me feel that I am not alone. I have this book already packed up to send to a friend who is a new mother. It’ll be a "~~Welcome to the World of Guilt and Incompetent Feelings"~~ "Happy New Baby!" gift.

If you have a dirty little secret of your own to share, head on over the book club at Mother Talk. Share your dirty little secret by May 1, 2008 and you might just win a $25 Amazon gift certificate or a free copy of the book.

For a refreshing and honest look at motherhood and for reminding me that even if I get voted off of this island, I am not alone, I give this a