Published: July 1, 1983 by Delta
First Published: November 28, 1969
This is another one of my mom's parenting books. Given that it was published a little over a year before I was born, I have to imagine this is one she read before or just after I was born. It is a little comforting knowing that I'm doing the same thing she was 30 years ago, especially since she's not actually able to be here for my parenting journey.
I do love the idea behind this book. It takes three babies, an average baby, a quiet baby, and an active baby, and let's you see their growth and development broken out each month over their first year. I love that it shows you the milestones to expect, but the way it's written it shouldn't make you feel like you're baby is behind, since the point is to show how different babies can be. It's actually readable, and more like a story, compared to something that just fact after fact.
Not only does it show different types of babies, but different lifestyles as well. One baby is the first child, one is the second, and one is the third. Also one mother goes back to work, while the other two stay home. Again, this helps show the wide range of experiences your child might potentially go through, that wouldn't be as easy to see if it was just one child.
More than following the babies, there's also a good amount given to the mothers. You get inside the mind of each mother so you can see what they're thinking. No mother is perfect either, and there are definitely times where the mother does something less than ideal where the narration comes in to say how it could have been handled better.
The book definitely has a lot going for it, and yet so much of it is outdated it's really hard to enjoy. For example, as each baby leaves the hospital they are handed to the mother in the front seat to hold on the drive home. I realize this must have been normal then, but reading it now, it just screams danger to me. There's others too that I noticed, like putting babies to sleep on their stomachs or starting solid foods around 2 or 3 months. But if these are the ones I noticed, I have to imagine there's others I didn't pick up on. It makes it hard to be able to follow any advice given because it's likely no longer considered safe.
I do wish that this book had been updated more recently, because I think it's a really interesting idea. And while it's hard for me to recommend it as a parenting book, I do think it's interesting to read and see just how much practices have changed in the past 30 years.
3/5
Today I'm linking up with Blonde Undercover Blonde for Book Club Friday!
I love the idea of a parenting book couched in real life stories.
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