Clever Reading: The Three-Martini Playdate

I am a mother of two young girls, ages 6 and 4. For years I’ve looked to books in the parenting information section of the local library to help me with guidance on issues such as potty-training, ideas for kid meals, sleeping troubles, sibling rivalry, etc. Although I found an abundance of information, I quickly came to the realization that I wasn’t really enjoying these books with their unique theories on raising children and needed something a little more realistic and down to earth to escape my sense of being an inadequate parent.

The Three-Martini Playdate: A Practical Guide to Modern Parenting by Christie Mellor was the perfect dose of reality that I needed. Mellor’s book takes subjects like screaming, child-proofing and bedtime dramas and reminds us that we are the ones in charge and that we’ve become a society that completely over-analyzes and over-compensates for normal behavior and that it’s time to go back to the basics. She explains that it’s okay to go back to the basics (flashback to our grandparents’ days of raising children in the 50’s!). This book is very funny with a retro feel to it (hence the little tot’s first martini recipes) and at the same time full of practical advice on how to be a good parent and prevent your kid from becoming too full of him or herself (see her chapter entitled Child Labor – Not Just for the Third World). Probably one of the funniest chapters gives a great checklist for leaving Dad home alone with the kids while the mom makes herself scarce for the rest of the day, and doesn’t feel guilty about it!

Another chapter that I really enjoyed was the need for us parents to record every moment of our children’s recitals, plays, and school or sports events. She talks about how the audience has become one huge sea of video cameras with anxious moms and dads elbowing the parent next to them for a clearer view to the stage and missing the moment completely instead of just sitting back and enjoying the moment. Her advice to put down the camera and enjoy the show, and file this special memory away as it happens, hit home with me. It’s a piece of advice I will cherish for years to come.

I gave this book to my girlfriend and she read it all in one night! It’s a great read and a refreshing take on what we all know is true, but somehow we are too busy getting caught up in what has become silly little rules of parenting in our society today to realize it. This book would make a great gift to a new mom or mom-to-be! Just remember, stick to the basics…sit back, relax, sip that martini and enjoy this read!!

NOTE: I’ve loved to read books all my life and I try to still get in a book every so often, even when time doesn’t want to permit it! We read to the kids every night and for those of you who also read to your kids but don’t have time to read for yourself, remember that it sets a great example for your kids to see you take a moment, pick up a book and read. It will do everyone good!