Posted on: Wednesday, April 6, 2005
COMMENTARY
Humor helping parents stay sane
By Susan Reinhardt
Gannett News Service
Tim Bete never started writing humor until he became a father. Hey, but what's funnier than staying up all night and going to work with dried milk on your tie? What's more hilarious than sitting in meetings and mumbling "Daddy's NOT going to buy you a mockingbird"?
• Potty-training can be done with M&Ms. • One can have their walls faux-finished and crackled by feeding kids a lunch of only condiments and substituting paintbrushes for forks and spoons. • The more kids you have, the more money you save on toys. They always want what the other one is playing with. • It's all in how you look at things. If you look at the little things as miracles, it's a lot easier. • If one treats the parents' bedroom like a business, the children won't run in and out as if it were a revolving door. Bete, who is director of the Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop at the University of Dayton, has a new book out, "In the Beginning ... There Were No Diapers" (Ave Maria Press, $12.95). The book is gaining attention and winning fans, many of whom are parents who need a good laugh in order to survive such events as potty training, tantrums, and public displays that make a mom or pop want to disappear.
The stories include what it's really like to change a diaper in an airplane restroom, how to decorate the walls with baby food, and other challenges and delights of parenting. Many stories are drawn from his popular column, "Where I Live."
The material in the collection is G-rated, God-friendly, and entertaining whether one has recently given birth or is one who remembers those early days of parenting with a fond smile and the feeling: They grow up so fast.
The self-effacing author/father with a strong Catholic background said he didn't start writing until five years ago when he moved to Ohio with his wife. Bete started out as a magazine editor and soon kids came along.
His exhaustion mounted, his stress grew. But through it all, so did his joy and blessings. This is around the time his pen took off and he began writing down everything his kids said and did.
A few years into parenting, Bete decided to enter the Erma Bombeck humor writing contest. He'd never read Bombeck growing up. But being in Dayton and at the university, he had discovered many fascinating facts about the beloved syndicated columnist who made 30 million readers laugh each week with her tales of family life.
"I didn't win, but my boss was so encouraging. She said, 'You need to write more.' "
As he chronicled the stories of his children's lives, various magazine editors contacted Bete and began printing his columns. He has appeared in the Christian Science Monitor and dozens of parenting magazines. Ave Maria Press asked him to do the book, the cover of which features two bare-bottomed babies in a father's arms. It's the kind of cover every writer dreams of — one that grabs attention.
While he markets himself as a humorist, not a Dr. Spock, he offers parents a few tips on staying sane throughout the miraculous journey.
"Humor is very therapeutic for parents," he said. "There's a huge need for it. Faith and a sense of humor is what get you through it. And that's what this is really about, sharing it with others so they can see light at the end of the tunnel."
Bete realized when he became a dad that it was either laugh or go crazy. And because his family wasn't big on going crazy, nor were camcorders and digital cameras widely used to immortalize special events, he began jotting down every funny, frustrating or enlightening moment with his four children, ages 9, 7, 3 and 3 months.
BETE'S TIPS
