Normal 0 Too often, the memoirs of celebrity parents and celebrity kids are self-indulgent drivel written more for those of us who want to live vicariously than to learn anything particularly useful.

So I was apprehensive when I picked up a copy of Afterbirth: Stories You Wont Read in a Parenting Magazine, the newest series of parenting essays to come out of Hollywood.

Phewwww. I laughed my vicarious aoff.

Comedienne Dani Klein Modisetts collection of written offshoots from her show Afterbirth . . . Stories You Wont Read in Parents Magazine has a nice mix of names youve heard (Neal Pollack, Andrew McCarthy) and names connected to projects youve heard of  (Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner).

Taking turns being irreverent and hilarious, the essays are not exactly bad parenting so much as they are aww, crap, no she DIDNT tales . . . that sound vaguely familiar. Except eminently more fabulous.

Ironically, the standout in a book meant to be more funny than functional isnt a laugh-a-word piece but an introspective (and not at all self-indulgent) essay from the unfortunately named Moon Unit Zappa. Describing her childhood as daughter of the famous rocker Frank as the very reason she has turned into a Type A parent, Zappa could be the poster child for my parents sucked, but I still decided to procreate. Which, again, sounds awfully familiar to half of todays parents.

But shes also refreshingly aware that she is no more expert than the rest of us.

Despite all the ways I am trying desperately to do the job differently than my parents, I cannot claim with any certainty that I am doing it any better, Zappa says.

Well, were trying anyway. Get the book from Amazon.

Image: Amazon