Should everyone be required to take a crash course in parenting before they decide to have children? I remember this question being posed in The Week (a magazine that I highly recommend). This is quite interesting because we have to take GREs to get into grad school, and our MCATS and LSATs to get into medicine or law school respectively, we interview to get into any profession, and we have to pass a driving test before we can get on the road, why shouldn’t we be required to take a test to see if we are suitable, intelligent enough, stable enough, selfless enough, and loving enough, before we decide to embark on the most important thing in our lives: having and raising a child???
I don’t know, its an interesting thought, but in the absence of a high school course of parenting, there are tons of books which I find provide great tips on parenting in today’e environment. I don’t rely on books, but they do come in handy when you are about to be or a new parent, or when you have exhausted every pediatrician’s, grandparent’s, sibling’s, friend,’s or teacher’s advice . Here is a list of books that I have received from friends that they found to be particularly helpful. I haven’t read all of them, and am working through most. I have bolded though the ones which I have gone through (evidently, most are baby related). Happy Reading!
Happiest Baby on the Block (Harvey Karp)
The 90-minute baby sleep program (Polly Moore)
Dr. Spocks Baby and Childcare: 8th edition, (Benjamin Spock updated and revised by Robert Needlman)
The Contented Little Baby: Simple Secrets of Calm, Confident Parenting (Gina Ford)
The New Basics: A-to-Z Baby & Child Care for the Modern Parent (Michel Cohen)
The Secrets of the Baby Whisperer (Tracey Hogg)
Caring for your baby and young child, 5th edition (American Academy of Pediatrics)
How to Talk So kids will listen and listen so kids will talk (Adele Feber and Elaine Mazlish)
The Three Martini Playdate, Christie Mellor
Raising your spirited Child (Mary Sheedy Kurcinka)
Raising Boys, (Steve Biddulp)
The Step Parents Parachute (Flora McEvedy)
Facing up to Facebook: A survival guide for adoptive familiies (Eileen Fursland)
Nurture Shock, (Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman)
The Top 10 50 Questions Kids Ask (Pre-K through 2nd grade), (Dr. Susan Bartell)
