Love In A Lunch Box

Guilt – consciousness of wrongdoing Guilt, maternal – illusion of wrongdoing. Irrational, nagging conviction that you are not doing the best by your children, and would do so much better if you were anybody else.

There is an awful condition running amok among our mums, these days. Bad Mother Syndrome. It is invariably self-diagnosed and, on the whole, way off beam. Even when they are frantically juggling kids, bosses and husbands – plus family, friends and bills – most mums seem to find the time for one final job: beating themselves up. "If I give my daughter twisties, will the additives limit her learning potential? If I wrap my son's sandwich in plastic, am I saying it's ok to damage the environment? If I make the sandwich with white bread, will the pumpernickel-mothers sneer?"

'Love In A Lunchbox' has a question too. "Is it possible you've all lost your sense of proportion?" This eclectic collection of wisdom, nonsense, quotes and jokes lets mums off their own hooks for a little while, allowing them to laugh at, rather than lament, the things that go wrong. If you've ever had the tiniest inkling that your marriage, motherhood, life and career may just occasionally be a little askew, this mishmash of maternal musings will strike a chord.