The supermom is a suburban legend. At some point, we’ve all forgotten to pack a lunch, yelled at our kids, or been late to soccer practice. This book is for every mom who has ever gotten angry at being interrupted from a consecutive five hours of sleep, or who has ever hid in the bathroom just to get a few moments of peace. In this collection of thirty-six original essays, award-winning novelists, famous columnists, and bestselling authors tell it like it is, covering a plethora of confessions to reassure any mother. Gail Belsky writes about the emotional torture that led to the secret circumcision of her son. Andrea Buchanan talks about the pile of dirty laundry that saved her son's life. Muffy Mead-Ferro confesses to her slacker summer, three months without one organized activity. Judith Newman recounts the game of Torpedo that landed her and her twins in the emergency room. Jacquelyn Mitchard shares how she was expelled from the carpool for showing up late one too many times. Together, their stories provide an entertaining, affirming, and sometimes surprising look at the perils and pleasures of motherhood. Poignant and amusing, The Imperfect Mom is a refreshing look at mistakes we all make in mothering and a consoling and hilarious testimony to parents who don't have it all figured it out.

In an ideal world, mothers would have time to hand-sew their kids' costumes for the school play, prepare all-organic meals, and volunteer in the classroom at the drop of a hat. In reality, most moms have to settle for plopping their little ones in front of SpongeBob so that they can prepare yet another chicken nugget-based dinner, guiltily convinced they're falling down on the job. In Good-Enough Mother, René Syler pulls back the curtain to reveal the truth about modern mothering and reassure time-stressed moms that even if their children are strangers to made-from-scratch cookies, they can emerge as happy, well-adjusted, fully functioning members of society. Mother to two great kids of her own, Syler explains how she learned to chuck perfection for practicality -- in short, how she became a Good-Enough Mother. She shows other women seeking to balance family, work, and some semblance of a personal life how to happily join the ranks of Good-Enough Mothers, who occasionally serve breakfast for dinner yet give their children plenty of what really matters -- love, time, and support. Each essay provides welcome empathy and sage advice on navigating life's different obstacles, whether it's dealing with annoying Supermoms, bluffing through a third grader's math homework, or coping with the words that strike terror into every parent's heart ("Your son's teacher on line one"). Offering real wisdom tempered with humor and warmth, Good-Enough Mother will have every modern mom laughing in relief and recognition.

Fighting against the 'perfect mom' stigma, one honestly embarrassing rambling at a time and fighting for the sanity, joy, and peace of moms everywhere, one very much-needed reminder at a time. Musings for Mom is inspiration, humor, and practical advice for the imperfect mom. Written by one of NBC Today Show's most published bloggers, Nicole Merritt, Musings for Mom is a wholly relatable, growth-prompting, yet informal playbook for moms seeking to maintain their selfhood and sanity through motherhood and marriage. "Nicole writes with the urgency of a war journalist, only she reports from the battlefront of parenting," remarks author and positive psychologist Dr. Robert Zeitlin. Author and television personality Erika Katz calls Nicole's book a "must-read," citing that it'll "warm your heart and nourish your soul!"

Do you feel like you’re the only mom who serves store-bought birthday treats, dreads school plays, and misses the days of going to the bathroom by herself? unNatural Mom gives you permission to say that mothering doesn’t always come naturally to you. Parenting expert and self-proclaimed unnatural mom Hettie Brittz helps you… Recognize how unrealistic our culture’s standards of mothering are Move beyond the myths of “supermom” Complete the Parenting Style Assessment to determine your own parenting style Understand and forgive the mothers who hurt you Embrace your capabilities as well as your challenges Come find new hope in discovering that every mother has unique gifts. In Christ, the “unnatural” mom becomes the supernatural mom who is just right for her family!

If you have ever forgotten to pick up your kids, accidentally worn two different shoes to the grocery store, or lost your cool over a messy house, YOU ARE NOT ALONE! In No More Perfect Moms, Jill Savage says it how it is: All moms struggle. We fall short of our own standard of excellence, and then we feel insecure about not being the perfect wife with the perfect kids, perfect husband, perfect home, perfect friends, perfect marriage, and perfect body… Jill speaks to the root of the insecurities mothers feel and points to a better way. No More Perfect Moms will help a mom: Change her unrealistic expectations to realistic hopes Give grace and love to her husband and children even during struggles, and discover the beauty of grace when she stops judging herself and others Find freedom from disappointment when she embraces her real family, her real challenges, and her real, but imperfect, life With refreshing honesty, Jill exposes some of her own parental shortcomings and helps mothers everywhere shelve their desires for perfection and embrace God’s beautiful grace. When moms do this, they can learn to love their real but imperfect lives. GROUP RESOURCES: FREE video curriculum, a leader’s guide, and additional group resources are available for No More Perfect Moms at www.NoMorePerfect.com.

Have mothers gone mad? They magically do it all, yet never quite think they've accomplished enough. Full of hard-hitting anecdotes and advice.

The truth about parenting is that you don't have to get everything right and your family doesn't need to be perfect. Colleen Duggan learned those lessons through years of struggling with unrealistic expectations. In this frank and intimate story, Duggan explores the emotional and spiritual healing that needed to take place in her life in order to be the parent, spouse, and follower of Christ God created her to be. Sharing both funny parenting moments and difficult times of self-scrutiny, Duggan invites us to join her in experiencing God's healing mercy and shows how to allow that healing to rejuvenate our lives and revitalize our families. As a child, Duggan smoothed over the jagged edges of her difficult home life with good grades and perfect behavior. By the time Duggan was an adult, her drive to constantly be in control was her way of life. It was only when she began raising her family that she realized how damaging this compulsion was for both her and the people around her. That's when she began her faltering journey toward letting God be in control. In Good Enough Is Good Enough, Duggan shares her heartaches—learning her child has a genetic disorder that might lead to cancer; realizing that her drive to do and be everything for everyone strained her marriage; and struggling with feelings of worthlessness after leaving her job to become "just" a stay-at-home, homeschooling mom. She also shares parenting difficulties we've all faced—trying to keep her kids quiet during Mass; wondering whether she's giving them enough opportunities for growth; and balancing time spent on herself, her kids, and others. With each story, we feel the brokenness she tried to cover by being a "perfect" parent and the eventual realization that she needed to find healing. Through the saints, the Sacraments, and Catholic traditions and literature, Duggan found the Church a place where God's love and healing grace embraced her. She invites us to the same conclusion: whether we are dealing with everyday frustrations or life-changing tragedies, it is in the heart of the Catholic Church that we are finally free to let go of our facades in order to embrace our brokenness and find healing.

When two college roommates reconnect after twenty years and find themselves both pregnant with baby girls, nothing could seem more blissful. That is, until they actually have the babies. Cue Momlandia: a strange universe that looks nothing like moms of Instagram. Braless, sleepless, and covered with milk, these friends fight for their pre-baby sanity the best way modern moms know how--one text message at a time. Together, they wade through the strange vortex of momlife, navigating GMO-sized body parts, tangled breast pumps, and sudden-onset husband hatred. Where is the glitter-filled Momtopia they were marketed? Strapping on their belly bands and pulling up their postpartum panties, these BFFs guzzle coffee and kale in search of organic motherhood. Hand-churning flax muffins while fighting their own muffintops, surely they can become the selfless, maternal saints they'd envisioned themselves to be. Or can they? To all those "natural" moms in search of perfection, we hail you, one momguilt, mombod, momfail at a time.

Based on the book of Nehemiah, the author presents an overall approach to parenting.