Red Green's Guide to Parenting

According to Uncle Red, the gravel-voiced sage Canadian handyman who occasionally has his hands full with his nerdy, rambunctious modern cousin Harold, there are certain rules when it comes to raisin' rugrats and I Was a Teenage Alien(s): 1) Learn to fake wisdom by "nodding and smiling," 2) Always go for it "any time you can pass your kid off to another adult," and 3) for your own health and safety, "never chase teenagers." Culled from the hit comedy The Red Green Show, the so-called "parenting" bits collected here are pretty much hit and miss, but the hits are generally bull's-eyes. I especially liked Red's "Handyman Corner" project for teen-proofing a car, which includes closing down access to the backseat(s) and replacing the front seats with a hardwood church pew ("if your kid complains about slivers, well, I'd say there's been a sin involved"), as well as his ingenious electrical modification project aimed at keeping yard-working kids on task: the "lack of motion detector." Many of the segments have precious little to do with the topic (a "padding" fault that Uncle Red admits to right up front), and--like Dave Barry might warn concerning any of his "how-to" books--parents looking for actual useful information will find none here. Still, what the heck, if you're needing a break from your hellion(s) on (hot) wheels, I'd recommend popping an episode of Upstairs, Downstairs into the young uns' VCR, while you recharge your humor batteries with Uncle Red on the grownup player. Who knows? The tykes might even join you for some quality time. Recommended. Aud: P. (R. Pitman)