When people have babies for the first time you often hear about feelings of fear and not knowing what to do. I’ve heard people say jokingly, “Wouldn’t it be nice if children came with instruction manuals?” My Lamaze teacher had a better view about it. She said that there’s no reason to not know what you are doing and feel helpless, there are plenty of books out there. She suggested Penelope Leach. I bought the book Your Baby and Child.

It’s divided into chapter based on age. I read each section right before PB entered that age group. It helped me understand my kids and how to handle them. Sometimes I have a parenting issue, read a section (re-read now, I’ve read the book cover to cover) and feel much better. There aren’t  magical solutions, but it’s good to know that first; your child’s erratic behavior is perfectly normal and second; there are good ways to deal with the erratic behavior. I don’t follow everything in the book, but I get a good place to start from instead of starting from nothing.

I also read and loved (again I think I made it through this book cover to cover), The Nursing Mother’s Companion. I ended up nursing Peter past a year, nearly exclusively. Curtis is on the same track.

In one of Bill Cosby’s albums he says, “Intellectuals go to study things that people do naturally.” Reading up on child-rearing can be like that. But I believe that all my book reading has helped me be a better parent. What books do you like to read about parenting?