Coming Soon To A Playground Near Me

Mama Rock's Rules, the new book by Chris Rock's mom Rose (with Valerie Graham), is subtitled, "Ten Lessons for Raising a Household of Successful Children". In it, Rose Rock uses her experiences raising 10 children, 17 foster children and teaching countless others to bluntly tell you how to raise your children.

And that's not a bad thing, exactly. If you're feeling lost and/or confused in your role as a parent, this book has a lot of advice about what your role REALLY is (you are not your child's friend and that is a good thing) and how to succeed in it. One section is even entitled, "Pull Out That Can of Whup-Ass", so you know that this isn't some touchy feely book that makes you fearful of reprimanding your children, lest you damage their self-esteem.

Not that there's not plenty of advice on building your child's self-esteem, it's just her belief is that self-esteem comes from appropriate praise and strong boundaries. Mama Rock demands respect, gives respect (in both praise and consequences) and has high expectations. And it's hard to argue with someone whose children include a world-famous comedian, a minister and a small business owner. She obviously knows what she's talking about when it comes to raising children.

Some of the advice seemed obvious to me, such as the section on reading - of course you should start reading to them as soon as possible! Of course it's the key to everything! And I was a bit annoyed by the end of chapter summaries, because it's not like the chapters were all that long or complex. I also disagreed with her section suggesting making the oldest child (or the oldest child at home) responsible for everyone all the time - she mentioned a story about Chris getting in trouble because his younger brother had lost his mittens. I think that's unfair. But then again, Chris Rock seems to have recovered from all that responsibility quite well, hasn't he?

In general, I liked the book. I liked it so much I wish I could have given it to a mom at the park the other day. Her son (who was about 3) kicked my son every time he tried to climb the ladder. And she would say, "No, no, don't do that honey, " while I comforted my hysterical two year old. Ironflower and Lovebug have each physcially assaulted another child once. And each time, we left the park immediately. And now they don't do it anymore. I'm pretty sure Mama Rock would approve. Though she doesn't get into a lot of specifics, especially for small children.

Though the chapter on sex was pretty specific. I really liked the line, "Less talk means more action." She goes on to explain that, "Studies show that teen pregnancy, STDs and emotional problems are highest in the groups where sex was never discussed."  She then goes on to give helpful tips on how to talk to your kids about sex and how to make them visualize the consequences.



Give this book a try if you're feeling like your kids are getting out of control, or you'd like to hand it out to certain mothers at the playground. :)

This review brought to you by MotherTalk.