Most parents, especially mothers, feel the need to be perfect. This can lead to helicopter parenting and helicopter parents can expect to exhaust themselves only to raise satellite children who are not prepared for the real world. Momaholic: Crazy Confessions of a Helicopter Parent is Dena Higley's memoir about being the head writer of a soap opera at work and at home, and how it can end badly if you are too careful. It has heavy Christian undertones, but it's more the "let go and let God", kick an addiction (in this case to motherly perfection), higher power version of God talk.

With wry humor, Higley shares the story about how her family nearly fell apart after experiencing a range of "normal" that she felt needed to be overcome. This normal included an autistic son, a daughter who gets knocked up out of wedlock, a daughter adopted from Vietnam who is normal in every way except for her limbs, and an adopted son from Ethiopia who sells black market sodas at his school. The family experiences no serious trauma until Higley drinks herself into the emergency room.

The choices Higley makes for her family are not necessarily choices other families would make (e.g. changing her adopted children's names), but they are their choices. The takeaway of Momaholic is that normal is good. Helicopter parents can and should keep their reactions in check to allow children to find their own way, to fight their own battles and to mature organically. Sheer force of will on the part of parents does not bring about the experiences we want for our children. On the contrary, it hampers their growth and can make parents sick in the process.

Though we do not find the book overly preachy, some readers may be turned off by the church/God talk. Momaholic is a quick read and not weighted down with advice or information. This makes it digestable for helicopter parents who are too busy managing the minutia of their children's lives to do much else. Send the kids outside, sit down to read (even if it's not Momaholic) and enjoy the stillness.

Momaholic: Confessions of a Helicopter Parent by Dena Higley
Thomas Nelson , 2012
9780849947360