In the Beginning There Were No Diapers
Laughing and Learning the First Years of Fatherhood

By Tim Bete

Humor is the Answer

Author Confirms Tried and True Saying:
Sense of Humor Is Needed to Raise Kids

     Tim Bete has written a darn funny book about parenthood and--by extension--about kids. It's been a long time since my children were young, but that didn't dilute my pleasure in reading it. When I turned the last page, I was laughing. When I turned the last page I had a renewed perspective of what my now-adult children are going through with their own children. (Yes, somehow I had just "forgotten.") When I turned the last page, I was very glad that Author Bete was experiencing that stage where kids train their parents, and I was not.

     Bete, the director of the Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop for Dayton University and the editor of a newsletter for authors who want to learn more about writing humor, is not only an expert on what's funny, but he obviously specializes--perhaps without intent--on humor surrounding raising babies and toddlers. A chapter called "Daddy's NOT Going to Buy You a Mockingbird, and Other Miraculous Ways to Save Money" is laugh-out-loud funny and a gentle reminder of how important the gentle art of saying "no" is, not only for parents, but for everyone.

      As a reviewer, publicist and author, I recommend books on Amazon.com through a program they have called Listmania. This book is going on a list of ideal gifts. This particular book needs to be tucked into every baby shower gift basket in the nation. No parent should be allowed to head for the maternity ward without having first read In the Beginning There Were No Diapers.