Not your typical guide to parenting..."Guide To Pirate Parenting" Review and Giveaway!

Raising children has been a difficult journey, so far. Most parenting books on the market have lists of do's and don'ts that never seem to fit in with my life, or the personalities of my children. At times, my kids are the sweetest things ever, and others- well, sometimes I really feel as if I'm trying to tame a wild animal or as if I am trying to teach a pirate manners.. it truly feels impossible!

When I received the book Guide to Pirate Parenting why you should raise your children as pirates and 101 tips on how to do it, I cracked it open while sipping a glass of wine after a particularly hard day. After the introduction, I knew that this book would be exactly what I needed. No, not a hard core lesson on truly raising my kids as pirates, but an I-can-barely-put-it-down-because-I'm-laughing-too-hard type of book.

I will warn you, for this book you have to have a certain respect for Cap'n Billy "The Butcher" MacDougall's coarse way of expressing his opinions. Not to mention a sense of humor to really understand Tim Bete's warped, yet loving, non-traditional guide to parenting your pirate.

This book makes an excellent gift for new dads, parents that have children that drive them bonkers sometimes, but is not for the prissy, weak stomached parental units. My husband laughed even louder throughout this book than I, as I think Pirate Parenting might be interpreted a little better by those who share the Y chromosome, (and believe it or not, I think I understand the way men think a little bit better after reading this book!).

As Bete writes, "Men don't have to think about the reasons for raising children as pirates because they intuitively know the great benefits of doing so. It is the same Y chromosome that allows men to intuitively know the answer to "Why don't I try to dust the inside of the house using a leaf blower?" In all likelyhood, most men have all ready skipped ahead to the section about converting the family minivan into a pirate schooner, and are in the garage beginning the project. Converting a minivan into a pirate schooner is such a compelling project for men that they would do it even if it meant that they had to raise their children as rodeo clowns. (Legal disclaimer: Raising your children as rodeo clowns is an extremely bad idea, unless you want your children to grow into adults who wear heavy makeup, taunt other people, and then hide in barrels.) Women have an X chromosome instead of a Y chromosome. Studies show that the primary purpose of the X chromosome is to cross out- and negate- ideas created by beings that possess the Y chromosome. Men's personal experience will bear this out."

Want it?
If this type of parenting book sounds like something that you'd appreciate, you don't need a map to find PirateParenting.com. Head over there for more insight about pirate parenting, and to order the book for yer self.. ahem, yourself.

WIN IT!
In the meantime, (after twittering some with Cap'n Billy, and walking away with all of my limbs still in tact!) Cap'n Billy and Tim Bete have offered one lucky reader at 4BabyAndMom the opportunity to win their very own copy of Guide to Pirate Parenting!

Here's how!
Head over to the Pirate Parenting website and take a look around. If it doesn't scare you off, come back here and tell me why you want to win the Guide to Pirate Parenting, and an interesting tidbit from the site.

Extra Entries:

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This contest ends on May 6th, 2009 at midnight, EST. Winner will be chosen at Random, using Random.org. Winner will be announced on May 7th. Special thanks to Cap'n Billy and Tim Bete for sponsoring this giveaway!