Reviews for Dear Parent: Caring for Infants with Respect

The average rating for Dear Parent: Caring for Infants with Respect based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2012-06-28 00:00:00 Edward Dyer Now that I have read several parenting books, I have come to one huge realization: No book should be taken in total. None of these authors know my little boy, my wife, or me. While they may give us a lot to consider, they cannot understand our individual temperments and our personal and family values. As a result, read away, but tread lightly. Act as gleaner. And trust your own gut and know this: You are the expert at parenting your own child. That said, Magda Gerber has a warm tone which feels like a nice blend of attachment parenting and a lot of common sense. And her overall claim is one worth considering. Her proposal is simply that we treat even infants with respect. She endorses that we communicate with our infant children often, even though they may not understand our words. We should say, "I'm going to pick you up now!" instead of just swooping and scooping. When changing their diaper, we should talk through each step in the process--not solely to encourage language acquisition but out of respect for them as developing individuals. There is a lot more to consider here, but again beware of taking everything as gospel. At times the book felt like an advertisement for her REI classes (which I'm not sure where they are offered, but I would consider attending to see what other wisdom she has in store). But again, as a new parent, while I'm grateful for the advice and insight, I must also trust my own intuition, observations and insights.

Review # 2 was written on 2010-03-09 00:00:00 Bill Rogers As D.H. Lawrence said, "How to begin to educate a child. First rule: leave him alone. Second rule: leave him alone. Third rule: leave him alone. That is the whole beginning." I wasn't sure about this book at first. I mean, she advocates letting your child go down stairs head first because it's the way they want to do it and that's the way they learn. I think she has probably worked with smarter babies than what I have since I think mine would have split her head open if I'd let her try that. Stair-mastering aside, I like the general philosophy of this book which is basically that babies may need you to feed and change them, but they're pretty good at figuring everything else out on their own because they're autonomous beings who deserve to be respected as such. I already follow some of the principles, like just childproofing everything and letting her roam free. Sometimes I discover too late that things I thought were childproofed actually aren't, but c'est la vie. This book is probably the antidote to "helicopter parents" since it encourages attending to your child's needs and then leaving them alone to explore at will thus giving them self-confidence that comes from self-mastery. It's made me feel a lot better about skipping out on all the "baby and me" type classes out there.