Author:  Paula Schmitt

Publisher:  Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing, Inc.

ISBN:  1-932279-15-6

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

Farts.  Sports.  Pain.  Fighting.  Girls.  All are things a mother of boys has to deal with on a daily basis.  Who would know better about these things than Paula Schmitt, mother to four boys and author of LIVING IN A LOCKER ROOM.

Schmitt, an experienced columnist for Web sites such as JustForMom.com and SanityCentral.com, is no stranger to writing about her boys and can recognize the humor in just about any situation imaginable. 

LIVING IN A LOCKER ROOM takes a (sometimes disturbingly) truthful look into the life of motherhood, particularly with boys.  Take a journey from birth (“He is a dictator in a diaper.  Get used to it” (p. 3)) through mealtime with toddlers (“The wait between ordering and the actual arrival of our food could best be likened to the time it takes for dead turtles to race through molasses in winter” (p. 20)), potty training, road trips, sports, sports and more sports, all the way to driving and beyond, including the toughest of tough subjects:

“Puberty – the final frontier.  These are the voyages of the starship Testosterone.  Its multi-year mission to explore strange, new girls, to seek out its own cell phone and new socialization, to boldly go where all men have gone before!” (p. 96)

Join Schmitt as she cheerfully goes with the flow of her young men, at times delighting in their rambunctious, mile-a-minute behavior, while at other times stubbornly trying to maintain her own femininity while drowning in a sea of testosterone. 

LIVING IN A LOCKER ROOM is at times laugh-out-loud humorous, especially for anyone who’s tried to raise boys.  Schmitt is able to take everyday situations and point out how not every day they really are when four boys are added to the mix.  She uses understatement to make her husband a hilarious addition to the mayhem and makes the reader wonder just what kind of supermom she must be to handle such constant motion and craziness around her.

Nearly every aspect of this book is pleasing, from the sweet cover photo of her and her very own basketball team of sons, to the unique method of titling each chapter.  Anyone looking for pointers or tips on maintaining sanity and order in a houseful of boys may be disappointed, but someone looking for a comrade who’s “been there, screamed in horror at that,” will be delighted with their choice in reading.

LIVING IN A LOCKER ROOM will make a great gift for the busy mom of boys in your life, as well as anyone expecting a tiny bundle wrapped in blue in the near future.  It would make a great gift from a son to a mother, perhaps on (hint, hint) Mother’s Day.  Schmitt promises an entertaining and funny read and does not disappoint.