DAYTON, Ohio -- Author and humor columnist Tim Bete believes there are many members of the Body of Christ. He just happens to be the funny bone.

"I think Jesus laughed a lot," says Bete, whose first book, In The Beginning...There Were No Diapers: Laughing and Learning in the First Years of Fatherhood, was published in January. "Laughter is an important part of faith. Humor helps people reflect on their lives and it can be very healing. I often hear from readers who say being able to laugh has helped them get through a difficult time."

And it appears Bete's book will help many parents get through difficult child-rearing moments. In The Beginning...There Were No Diapers has already hit #15 on Amazon.com's parenting humor best-seller list. It also won a 2005 Parent-to-Parent Adding Wisdom Award and is a CatholicMom.com Book Club selection for March.

"Regardless of their denomination, Christian parents have the same goal," says Bete. "They want to pass on their faith to their children. They also have many of the same worries and frustrations. All parents stay up late with their children when they’re sick, bandage their kids’ skinned knees and change diapers.”

Bete jokes that if someone started a new denomination with free diaper changing, it would be very popular.

Parents have experienced similar struggles and frustrations for ages. Bete speculates that there must have been a thousand children present at Jesus’ multiplication of the loaves and fish.

“By my calculation, 400 kids would have said they ‘didn’t like fish,’” says Bete. “Three hundred and fifty children would have complained that their ‘bread was touching their fish.’ One hundred and fifty kids would have whined that the fish was ‘inedible without tartar sauce.’ It’s a minor miracle when you get your kids to eat something that’s good for them.”

In The Beginning…There Were No Diapers focuses on many “minor miracles” of parenting. While small, those miracles have a huge impact on the life of a parent.

“The parting of the Red Sea was a major miracle,” says Bete. “The day you successfully potty train your child is a minor miracle. Both involve the miracle of dryness and the release from bondage. In the case of the Red Sea, the bondage was from Pharaoh. With potty training, the bondage came in the form of size-5 Pampers.”

“I was once told my writing is a cross between Dave Barry and Erma Bombeck, but that brings to mind Mr. Barry in a dress, so I try not to think about it,” he jokes. Editor & Publisher magazine in a December story about Barry’s hiatus listed Bete as one of the possibilities for his replacement.

Formerly the editor of Early Childhood News magazine, Bete, (42), resides in Beavercreek, Ohio, with his wife, Lynn, and four children — all under the age of ten, including a newborn.

“A new baby means more to write about,” says Bete. “With kids you never run out of funny material.”

For more about the In The Beginning…There Were No Diapers, including how to order a copy, see www.TimBete.com. The book is also available at Amazon.com and bookstores.




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