Author:  Tim Bete

Publisher:  Sorin Books

ISBN:  1-893732-87-8

The following review was contributed by:      Jennifer Brown & Click Here To View Jennifer Brown's Reviews

The University of Dayton couldn’t have chosen a better director for their Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop.  Tim Bete, former editor of Early Childhood News, has stepped into the job in true Erma style.  Bete, father of three small children, takes Erma-esque humor writing to its finest, most hilarious peak in his book, IN THE BEGINNING…THERE WERE NO DIAPERS.

Bete uses his experiences with his children to explore the many “miracles” of parenting, making the reader laugh out loud at such topics as:

*Children and sports

*Potty training

*The less-than-sophisticated culinary choices of children

*Which lullabies NOT to sing

*Pet Heaven

Bete alternately uses wit and eloquence to touch his readers, at some points making them unsure if they want to laugh or cry: 

“I also adhere to the ‘teasing is loving’ philosophy taught to me by my dad.  He practiced what he preached.  After a wonderful family dinner, Dad would enthusiastically ask, ‘Who wants chocolate chip cookies for dessert!?’  When my four siblings and I yelled, ‘We do!’ he would respond, ‘Too bad nobody made any.’  If that’s not love, I don’t know what is” (p. 88).

But don’t mistake “touching” for “humorless.”  This book is laugh-out-loud funny, with Bete’s hilarity – particularly his spin on the Ten Commandments, parables, and Ben Franklin quotes – simply not to be missed.

IN THE BEGINNING…makes use of ordinary trials we all have with our children and shows us the hilarity in them through part-fantasy, part-parable, part-frightening-truth and reminds us that these are the moments we will go on to remember forever.  These are the moments we’ll miss when we’re old.  These are those fleeting moments of child and family innocence that only a true parent can recognize as sweet.  Indeed, Bete says, “…now that my eyes have been opened to minor miracles, they arrive on a daily basis” (p. 14).

IN THE BEGINNING…THERE WERE NO DIAPERS by Tim Bete should be first in line on your gift list for the father in your life.  Simply a must-have that would have made Erma proud, Tim Bete’s book is highly recommended by this reviewer.