Review: I’m sure this book is useful to someone. After all, as stated on the cover, it was featured on “Oprah.” However, having had a baby before, it wasn’t at all useful to me. Now on the one hand, you might say, “Well, you already had a baby, so you’ve already made all these decisions, so of course it wasn’t useful to you. That’s not the book’s fault.”

On the other hand, I don’t think I would have benefited from making any decisions differently if I’d read this book first and that I actually might have ended up spending more money. The introduction does make the point that this book is not for do-it-yourself-ers. It’s for people who like and want nice things, they just don’t want to pay a lot for them.

So if you’re someone who really wants to have a brand new Italian stroller and a top-of-the-line coordinated crib/dresser/changing table set, then this book might help you save money. However, I’m more of a not-do-it-at-all-er as opposed to a DIYer as far as babies are concerned and this book would not have helped me one bit. Personally, I don’t see the need for things like cribs and changing tables, while this book takes for granted the fact that these items are necessities.

The bottom line is that for the 2010 edition, which is the one I read, the book claims that they will cut the cost of raising a baby for the first year from $7,040 to $4,149. That just sounds crazy to me. Sure if you consider everything you might possibly ever need or want for your baby and try to get it all cheaply you might “save” $3,000 compared to retail prices. However, that’s the entirely wrong attitude in my opinion. One should start from the other end and ask the question, “What do we really need in order to get this kid to their first birthday?”

If you decide that there’s something that you don’t REALLY need, but would be nice to have, get it used at a garage sale or consignment store. That’s a better way to save money if you ask me. (Personal Rating: 4/10)

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Review: I read two chapters, skimmed another, then pretty much quit reading this book. It’s more of an academic book about a particular study than a parenting book. I can see how this study and the information contained might be of interest to someone who had a job specifically studying sibling relationships, but in my opinion, the whole idea behind the study is not very convincing.

The study contained only 40 firstborn children who were analyzed in a very casual way by just the two authors. Statistically, given the varying ages and situations, I’m not sure any conclusions can really be made. It’s fair to present the results, but I don’t think qualitatively that the authors will be able to say anything that isn’t fairly obvious and expected (i.e. some kids regressed in their toilet training, some became more defiant, etc.)

The kids varied in age to begin with (most of them being in the vicinity of their second birthday when the second child was born), but I’m not sure how one can even make a justifiable argument about which behaviors were due to the birth of the sibling and which were just a result of getting older. There would need to be a control group of only children who did not acquire a sibling to compare with this sample to truly know what effect the sibling had (and the sample size would have to be much, much larger to be believable, in my opinion, given the normal variation in children).

I can’t fairly evaluate this book given that I didn’t read all of it, but based on what I did read, it seemed like finishing it would not have been a productive use of my time. (Personal Rating: 4/10)

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Review: Honestly, I skimmed this book past the first chapter. Some of the more amusing bits of advice are “Remember the television can be your friend. Wisely used, it can keep a child happy, well-behaved and out of difficulty for long periods. (pg. 29)” and “You will if at all possible enlist the services of a good babysitter for as much of the time as possible. (pg. 27).” While this does seem like advice that a helpful neighbor might give you or even techniques one would come up with on their own, it’s not really up to the standards of advice one hopes to find in published material. (Personal Rating: 4/10)

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Review: Honestly, I didn’t even finish this book. I read the first third and then decided that while the subject material was interesting, there must be a better presentation somewhere. I have a doctorate in engineering and even I thought this book was too math-y for a child development book. I did enjoy the biography of Piaget and there is truly very interesting anecdotal information contained within the book, but I’m going to look for something that it easier reading (and possibly even Piaget’s original translated works) before I return to this book. (Personal Rating: 4/10)

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Review: Given how much I liked The Happiest Baby on the Block, I really expected to like the toddler version and was excited to improve my relationship with my toddler using the author’s methods. However, I was really disappointed by this book. I felt like he was capitalizing on the success of the baby version and stretching the same primitive theory that your child is really younger than they seem to toddlers in a way that didn’t necessarily fit.

His main idea is that, evolutionarily, toddlers are more like Neanderthals and cavemen than younger versions of older children. The best way to deal with tantrums, the author suggests, is to speak to them using primitive language that they can understand (what he calls “Toddlerese”). As an example, if your toddler is very angry, because he wants something he can’t have, the author would suggest shouting at the child (mirroring his emotion) something like, “You say, ‘No! No! No! I want! I want! Mine!” To me this just sounds like a phenomenally bad idea.

To be fair, my toddler is extremely well-behaved by toddler standards and in most cases is pretty rational. He has never in his life said such words out loud even if he was thinking them, so I can’t think of any good reason to put those words in his mouth. Maybe this method is more useful on “spirited” children, as the author calls them, but I can’t test that theory.

Speaking of which, I was mildly offended that the author says that parents of spirited children are really the best parents. I will agree that some parents have a tougher time than others based on the genetic predisposition of their child’s temperament. However, as the parent of calm, respectful, non-violent children, I take issue with the idea that parents of out-of-control children are really better parents. If anything, I’ll call it a tie.

The author does have some good ideas which are presented well, such as the “Fast Food Rule” or repeating back to your toddler what he is trying to tell you in order to show you understand. I’m pretty sure I already do this, particularly when other people are around to make sure they understand what my child is saying. However, much of the rest of the advice in this book is not new or interesting. I agree with most of it, disagree with some of it (such as lying to your children), but really didn’t learn anything new or helpful. (Personal Rating: 4/10)

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