If you have kids, chances are there's been plenty of times when you've turned your eyes heavenwards and muttered, "God help me." Now there's a book which is supposed to do just that. "Women, especially mothers, are treated with deep respect" in the Bible, say Judy Bodmer and Larry Richards in this guide for mothers, and they hope to point women toward Scripture that will help them care for their children as God cares for them.

Sounds like a good idea. But this "guide" is really as much about marriage as it is about children. Bodmer and Richards have long passages about the evils of divorce and the importance of staying married at all costs, come what may. Women are informed that "choosing to go childless is not in God's original plan," but then again, "trying to raise a child without a father is also not in God's plan." Bodmer and Richards make it clear that being a good mother means, above all, having a traditional family, advice that is dubious use for many--and that hardly bespeaks the love and forgiveness that were part of God's original plan.