Now that pregnancy has been given an honest appraisal, it’s on to Kathy Buckworth (who got her magazine writing start in the pages of this publication!) to open our eyes about the rest of the deal. The Secret Life of Super Mom: How the woman who does it all…does it! (Sourcebooks, 2005, $14.95.) Buckworth asks us to “imagine what would be captured if a film crew followed the average Super Mom around…they would witness the times you wipe up spills on the kitchen floor with your stocking feet…the amount of food slurped from the saucepans while making dinner, without washing the spoon clean in between…the amount of precious artwork one throws out on a daily basis…” She says that Super Mom can admit to letting the children eat in the family room to avoid a fight, and then giving them a stem look when their father discovers gooey marshmallow all over the carpet. Super Moms often “count the minutes until the children’s bedtime and then gaze at them adoringly when they’re asleep.” Super Moms even “drink diet Pepsi for breakfast to get a caffeine jolt without having to go to the trouble of making coffee, but disguise it from the children by putting it into a mug.” Buckworth kinda takes the pressure off, doesn’t she? And the mask, too. Of the tough (impossible?) job of being a Super Mom, Buckworth says, our task is to be “not perfect…” but “super.” Which pretty much means doing your best…most of the time. I can do that, I think.