What was your first impression?

"Great! She's not lost her touch!" I read all her previous childcare
books as soon as they were published. Although some of the content is no longer
relevant to me (my children are teenagers) I would still go out of my way to
read her writing.

What's it about?

Modern family life and how to survive it. It combines, extends and updates
her earlier publications: "How not to Raise a Perfect Child"and "How
not to Be a Perfect Family." The result: a comprehensive guide covering
subjects from early friendships to sex education; nursery rhymes to computer
games.

What did you like about it?

Its commonsense, humorous approach. The author may juggle a successful journalistic
career and motherhood, but she is no 'Superwoman.' I loved her remark in an
earlier book "How not to be a Perfect Mother": "May not a madonna
put her feet up with a beer and a book occasionally?" Yet, she doesn't
hesitate to tackle tough issues. It's reassuring to know that she's been there
at the coalface herself. Incidentally, whilst the book isn't aimed directly
at the Christian market, Libby's faith is in evidence, in a quiet way.

What didn't you like?

On a purely personal note, I felt that the various books in the series stood
better alone. And I missed the original pictures! In its present format there
is almost too much material to take in at one sitting. Maybe it would be easier
to think of it as a child-care encyclopaedia.

What will you still remember a year from now?

Her robust, multilingual version of "My friend Billy!" (Oh, the
shame!)

Who would you recommend this book to?

All parents and parents to be. A copy to other members of the family wouldn't
come amiss either.

Could you give us a couple of good quotes from the book?

"Even more awesome is the reflection that whatever you tell them, they
will believe; and whatever they learn later on to prove you wrong, some tiny
corner of the mind will retain that first, indelible lesson. If a trusted person
tells a small child that policeman are pigs who lock people up and kick them,
ten years later there will be a young teenager out on the streets who runs away
from, rather than towards, the police when a fight starts. If you tell him God
is good, the odds are that someday, in trouble, he will pray. If you tell him
(or show him) that shoplifting is all right as long as you don't get caught,
he will have difficulty forever with the question of personal honesty."

"A good babysitter is not only friendly and fun but has a sufficiently
morbid imagination to stop a child of any age going to bed cuddling a length
of strangly rope, or to pick up a plastic bag blowing around on the bedroom
floor. He or she will also disbelieve your child's wide-eyed, candid assurances
that he is always allowed to eat boiled sweets in bed."