Most kids become the class clown in the fourth or fifth grade. For me, it started when I was 40.

Maybe (writing a book like this) starts with a little bit of bitterness. The genesis was knowing housewives whose lives consist of buying $500 chairs for their kitchen. And it's also maybe a little jealousy. You've got to train yourself to find the humor in everything.

The New York Times gave me permission to be funny and write about what it is to be a woman and a mother who isn't quite up to the challenge.

It's not difficult. We're going to class and talking to them or calling them into our office and talking to them one-on-one. It's actually kind of been fun. It's been a very interesting year.

Kids need to be exposed to as much as possible.

I'm really not worried. I don't think they're going to let kids into these programs that are just going to flounder. Let's say a kid got in that didn't have that drive; they will weed themselves out.