Parents are constantly overwhelmed with advice on how to raise smarter babies. All too often, fear is used to promote a particular cause (such as the vaccine-autism scare) or to market worthless products (such as “Baby Einstein” videos) that promise to make a child smarter or speed up development.
Now Stephen Camarata proves that educational fads and public health scares aren’t just stressful—they prevent parents from doing the things that would actually protect their child and promote learning and healthy brain development.
Camarata draws on research, case studies, and experiences with his own patients to argue for a return to instinct-driven parenting. Developmental milestones are misleading, and earlier is not necessarily better. He shows why the best things parents can do are almost always low-cost, routine activities such as playing “peek-a-boo”, reading books aloud, and simply paying attention to their child and responding naturally. This is the true “magic” that ultimately leads to intelligent, confident, curious adults.
This book will empower parents to recognize irrational fears and incredible claims that increase worry, steal their cash, and diminish their enjoyment of parenting.
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My Review:
I got this book for free through the GoodReads FirstReads program in exchange for an honest review.
Camarata chimed well with me for several reasons. First and foremost, he assured me that I'm a good parent--using science. I come from a family of overachievers so you can see why I would really, really, REALLY want my daughter to have a great head start. Everything from carrying her a couple extra days and delaying the cord cutting to breastfeeding and taking many, many walks were all for the development of her precious little brain.
I know. I sound like one of THOSE parents. I would swear I'm not crazy but I really don't know anymore.
Anyway, Camarata also had a good mix of assuming his audience is smart, but not so smart that some things need to be explained. At no point did I feel patronized or talked (written?) down to. I understood the things that weren't explained and it was a nice surprise to find things that were explained.
Mixing in personal examples as well as leaving detailed source notes only served to make the book interesting as well as credible. It bugs me SO much when a book says "According to a study...." and then doesn't tell me which study. Makes it seem made up.
Last but not least: Would I buy it? I would buy this for myself, and then my sister. And then any time someone at work gets pregnant I'm buying a copy for their baby shower.
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