Better by the 4th reread...

Every year or so I pull out this book and reread it.
The first time I thought it was fluff and gave up on it (when my first infant was 1 year old).
With each passing year I reread it and I find the book gets better.
Now with a 5 year old and another who is 18 months, on my 4th rereading I'm finally getting the Zen of the book. The book hasn't changed, it's just taken me this long to get it. Thank goodness I was able to cut through the paradigm fog.
This isn't a how-to-solve-a-parenting-problem book (say, like "Positive Discipline" or "What to Expect"); it's more a how-to-BE-a-parent book.
As I wisened up as a parent, this book improved, too.

The format is lots of short self-contained chapters which make for thoughtful but easy reading (well-crafted as opposed to substance free) for parents who have a hard time finding more than 15 minutes of peace to read.

[Wednesday, March 26, 2008]

Opinionated and in direct contrast to much of the current research!

I was very optomistic about this book, thinking that it placed an emphasis on how to interact with babies and kids without the unnecessary overlays of too much technology and toys. This book basically regurgiates the philosophy of RIE (Resources for Infant Educarers by Magda Gerber). This way on interacting with infantren is all about respecting them as individuals. However, the belief system is not based on well researched concepts such as that infantren need boundaries and are not always ready for excessive verbal diatribes on why it is wrong to hit others. Additionally, this book flies in the face of an abundance of research on attachment theory. The authors often note that babies need private time and should "self soothe". Babies need private time about as much as LA needs more plastic surgeons. Babies need touch ,responsive parenting, and lots of affection and unconditional love. Self soothing is clearly not beneficial for babies as studies show that babies who are well responded to are more well adjusted infantren, are more independent, and more able to be flexible. This book was truly disapointing and beyond that, could really do some damage. There were one or two decent (albeit somewhat obvious) chapters regarding how kids need unrestricted and unstructured play time, and on the need to not expose young kids to so much media.

[Tuesday, December 04, 2007]

Easy read for busy parents

I'm a stay-at-home mom, and my favorite part about this book was that the chapters tended to be short--mostly about 3 to 5 pages, I'd say. This happens to correspond pretty well to my son's attention span at 5 months.

I think that if you agree that simplicity, not commercialism, is the key to raising a successful, happy infant these days, you will enjoy this book. I found the writing to be encouraging at least, inspirational at best.

As other reviewers have commented, this is not a how-to book full of ideas of simple ways to raise a infant. It's more like a series of meditations, which may inspire ideas of your own.

Furthermore, while I generally agree with theh authors' stance that babies don't need all these expensive bavy toys, I disagree that these toys are bad. I happen to own a jumperoo and keep an exersaucer at my parents' house. I feel that neither of these toys "trap" my sn, as the book suggests. Likewise, we have a play gym. I chose the kind with repositional bars, so that my son can play beside the hanging toys instead of being trapped under them. In my experience, babies will not amuse themselves for long periods of time lying on their backs staring at the ceiling, and when I need a few minutes to prepare something on the stove, I find these toys invaluable. In this regard, I found the book extremely preachy and condescending.

However, these moments were few and far between, and I definitely recommend the book if the main principal appeals to you and you are looking for a source of confirmation and reinforcement.

[Tuesday, July 10, 2007]

Customers who bought this item also bought: