My Favourite Childcare Book

The Australian Baby and Child Care Handbook, by Carol Fallows, is the book I keep coming back to.  It is full of commonsense and pragmatic information and advice.  It isn't filled with silly, overexaggerated, attempting to be funny anecdotes about one person's pregnancy experiences (a la Kaz Cooke's Up the Duff, which I acknowledge is very amusing).

This handbook does deal briefly with pregnancy and birth,however, as its title suggests, its main focus is on childcare.  Topics covered include preparing for babies on a budget, (and how refreshing to read a book that does not encourage you to buy all sorts of unnecessary gadgets and gear for the newborn!), stages of development and how to play with your baby, (again, without encouraging parents to buy heaps of things - Fallows is adamant that for the first six months, a baby's favourite toy is his or her parents.)  There are also  lots of ideas about what sort of games children at different ages like to play.  I often dip into it for inspiration about activities to play outdoors, or using music, or ways children can help with household tasks.  (I have also found it invaluable for ideas about dealing with behaviour issues like whinging, sibling rivalry and dawdling!)

Some of the features I like in The Australian Baby and Child Care Handbook are the developmental tables which indicate what most children should be able to do by ages in terms of motor skills, language and cognitive development.  There is a comprehensive and easily understaood section about first aid and common childhood ailments, as well as a long appendix of support services available state by state. (Although because I have the second edition, which was published in 1998, many of these resources don't have a website listed - it may be time for an updated edition....).  There are brief but unobtrusive anecdotes from real parents on the sides of most pages, which you can read if you want to.  They do help the reader gain perspective and realise that raising children is a 'the same but different' for everyone.

Breastfeeding and weaning are covered, as is preparing first foods and dealing with fussy eaters.  There is some very sensible advice about adjusting to new parental roles and relationships, as well as organising one's time and home, and creating a safe environment for babies and toddlers.

I love this book's comprehensiveness and its sensible, friendly and supportive language.  I would recommend it to all new and expectant parents as an invaluable family resource. (I just wish it had a sequel that dealt with school aged children!)

Buy or Borrow?  Buy buy buy! Worth its weight in gold!

Michael Grose - 'Thriving' on our insecurities...

Yes, I agree, that's a harsh title...but it serves a purpose.  Firstly it fulfils my pathological addiction to groanworthy puns; secondly it introduces Michael's most recent book; and thirdly it sums up the the discomfort I feel about the way Michael Grose appears to be utterly commercially driven.

Michael Grose is an Australian parenting guru, who has been steadily churning out books, DVDs, parenting programs, seminars, syndicated newspaper columns, school newsletter inserts and more recently a blog and e-newsletter.  He has been writing for at least the past 20 years, and his own children are now grown up, and making their own way in the world.  His books include Raising Happy Kids, Great Ideas for (Tired) Parents, One step Ahead: Raising 3-12-year-olds, and, most recently, Thriving:Raising Exceptional Kids with Confidence, Character and Resilience.  His books are available through mainstream bookshops, and his webpage, Parenting Ideas, (there's a link on the right hand side of this page).  Most libraries also have a copy or two of some of his books.

My husband heard Michael inteviewed on the Radio National Life Matters program earlier in the year, and was impressed enough to mention it to me, and to remember the title of the book.  This was a strong enough recommendation for me to go out and buy the book.  And I'm glad I did. But I wouldn't buy another one unless it was on special.  I'll explain why soon.

Thriving is acessible and enjoyable.  It sets out Michael's theories about parenting, which are fairly straightforward and uncontroversial: we should focus on nurturing a family rather than needy individuals, children should pitch in and help out from an early age, parents are boss but corporal punishment is inappropriate, etc etc.  He justifies these and gives helpful strategies for achieving them.

The book is astutely structured.  The first chapter is dedicated to explaining the importance of balance in parents' lives, as opposed to becoming a martyr to our children. (He had me onside immediately!). He suggests that our order of priority should be 1.Me  2.My marriage/partnership 3.My family. After disscussing the importance of building one's own resilience as a parent, the book is divided into sections on building confidence, developing character and promoting resilience in kids - all worthy aims.

Thriving is well written, easy to read, undogmatic, and presents some good ideas, and if I was to buy only one Michael Grose book, this would probably be a good one to choose (being the most recently published, it would also be the easiest to source too!).  But I think this one would be enough, as I am quickly discovering through my further reading of his books and online publications, the information and ideas in Thriving are not all that different from his earlier work.  I borrowed Great Ideas for (Tired) Parents from my local library, and discovered that although it was first published almost 20 years ago, all the underlying ideas and suggestions are the same as presented in Thriving.  Michael's thinking doesn't appear to have evolved or refined to any great extent in 20 years.  He is just repackaging and reselling the same ideas, which is probably very commercially astute, but I feel it is a little unethical.

His website is worth a quick look, it is divided into sections for parents and educators, and there is a sale on this week.

Verdict: Buy or Borrow? ......Borrow! (But worth reading)

Next week:  The parenting book I have found most useful during my children's 'early childhood' phase...

Frank Furedi on authority in schools - Life Matters - 2 August 2010

Frank Furedi on authority in schools - Life Matters - 2 August 2010