The following is an extract taken from the book 'Call Her Miss Ross, The Unauthorized Biography Of Diana Ross' by J. Randy Taraborrelli.  It's sort of a template on how to be a Perfect Mom!

"I know how important the family bond is to children," she told writer Tom Burke for Good Housekeeping. "But I do believe that kids can be fine with a single parent. It’s all about how much love they require, how much is given to them. Traveling is very hard when you’re a single parent with three kids. I must organize my schedule carefully. When I plan a tour, I first find out how the girls really feel about my leaving home. We discuss choices – they can go with me if they’re not in school, or they can stay with their dad. There’s nothing wrong with having a successful mom, a mom who travels and sings and people like her. That feels good to them."

The girls commuted to Dalton School in Manhattan from their home in Connecticut, a 45-minute ride by chauffeur-driven limousine. Dalton is one of the most exclusive of New York’s private schools. Often, Diana would ride into town with them when she had to go to her New York offices. She also belonged to the PTA.

Once, Diana and the girls were riding along the Connecticut Turnpike in their white stretch limousine when Rhonda, 12, decided that the pretension was silly. "Well, I’m just sick of it," she complained later in front of some of Diana’s employees. "Why can’t we ride in a normal car like normal people?"

"Rhonda, I appreciate what you’re trying to say," Mother said very patiently. "But, please look at it this way. I worked really hard all of these years for this luxury. I’m sorry, but I don’t like to drive. This is nice and comfortable and we should be very grateful that we’re able to travel like this. Don’t you agree?"

Rhonda nodded her head.

Usually, when not on the road, Diana had two security guards at her disposal: one for her and one for the children. Anytime the children went out in public, they would be accompanied by a Ross employee and the security guard.

Of her children, Diana had said, "If loving them means spoiling them, then that’s just too bad." She apparently meant it. The girls became accustomed to receiving two of each gift for Christmas – two of the same outfits, two pairs of the same shoes. This way, Diana reasoned, if they lose any part of the ensemble, they would still have a matching pair. She would think nothing of buying the girls dozens of $300 to $500 sundresses – each designer outfit always in duplicate.

One Christmas, Diana chartered a DC-9 jet to fly herself and the three girls to Aspen for the holiday. Having completed her Christmas shopping for them, she came home with a limousine full of gifts; she had spent roughly $100,000 on presents for Rhonda, Tracee and Chudney.

Diana telephoned her assistant road manager, Michael Browne, to ask him to help her wrap the presents, and when the two of them were finished, the pile totaled 55 boxes. The next morning, when it was time to leave, Ross’ staff brought the gifts to the airport to have them loaded onto the DC-9, only to discover that all of them would not fit into the plane’s cargo hold. Diana deliberated over this dilemma for a moment and decided that there was only one solution: charter a bigger jet just for the gifts. "Then there’ll be one plane for us, and one for the presents!" she exclaimed. She truly enjoys these extravagant gestures.

Apparently at the last minute, she also decided to have a portable bowling alley installed in the aisle of the jet that she, Rhonda, Chutney and Tracee, and the staff would take. This way, her daughters would have something to do during the flight. It took three hours to install the bowling alley. Meanwhile, the jet sat on the runway and Diana was charged for what the airport called "runway time". Holding on the tarmac cost $1,100.

"Bill me," she told the officials when they added up the charges. Once she was airborne, according to Michael Browne, she said, "They’ll never see a cent of that."

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