In this essential guide, a child safety specialist provides tools for reducing the risk of injury at home and beyond for vulnerable children between birth and age five. Illustrations & checklists.

From the author of Expecting Better, The Family Firm, and The Unexpected an economist's guide to the early years of parenting. “Both refreshing and useful. With so many parenting theories driving us all a bit batty, this is the type of book that we need to help calm things down.” —LA Times “The book is jampacked with information, but it’s also a delightful read because Oster is such a good writer.” —NPR With Expecting Better, award-winning economist Emily Oster spotted a need in the pregnancy market for advice that gave women the information they needed to make the best decision for their own pregnancies. By digging into the data, Oster found that much of the conventional pregnancy wisdom was wrong. In Cribsheet, she now tackles an even greater challenge: decision-making in the early years of parenting. As any new parent knows, there is an abundance of often-conflicting advice hurled at you from doctors, family, friends, and strangers on the internet. From the earliest days, parents get the message that they must make certain choices around feeding, sleep, and schedule or all will be lost. There's a rule—or three—for everything. But the benefits of these choices can be overstated, and the trade-offs can be profound. How do you make your own best decision? Armed with the data, Oster finds that the conventional wisdom doesn't always hold up. She debunks myths around breastfeeding (not a panacea), sleep training (not so bad!), potty training (wait until they're ready or possibly bribe with M&Ms), language acquisition (early talkers aren't necessarily geniuses), and many other topics. She also shows parents how to think through freighted questions like if and how to go back to work, how to think about toddler discipline, and how to have a relationship and parent at the same time. Economics is the science of decision-making, and Cribsheet is a thinking parent's guide to the chaos and frequent misinformation of the early years. Emily Oster is a trained expert—and mom of two—who can empower us to make better, less fraught decisions—and stay sane in the years before preschool.

Named One of the Best Consumer Health Books of 2007 by Library Journal In childhood, the occasional bump or scrape comes with the territory. But serious injury is another matter, creating anxiety for even the most experienced parent. Fortunately, unintentional injury can be prevented. In this essential guide, an eminent child safety specialist explains how to reduce the risk of childhood injury at home—and beyond. Her tips help protect children from birth to age five—those who are most vulnerable to serious injury. She describes how to provide a safe environment during the daily activities of sleeping, eating, bathing, dressing, playing, and traveling. The major hazards and potential injuries associated with each activity are identified along with the age when the child is at greatest risk. Illustrations, checklists, and summary charts complement the text and put valuable lessons and critical information at parents’ fingertips. From Crib to Kindergarten is an indispensable “how to” for parents, grandparents, teachers, babysitters, and daycare providers.

A big boy and his best stuffed friend seek the courage to move to a gigantic new bed.

Who wouldn’t want a big bed all their own? Goodbye, crib. Hello, bed! Baby is happy to move on to the next phase of sleep furniture. There’s so much to do on a big, soft bed — lie on it, play on it, bounce on it! At bedtime, Daddy tucks Baby in, Mommy says good night, and there’s so much space, and the bed feels so . . . different. What now? Trepidation gives way to a good night’s sleep in a celebration of a familiar toddler ritual.

Nature didn’t finish your child’s brain at birth. It’s up to you to maximize your child’s mental skills without causing additional stress. Acclaimed neurologist and bestselling author of Grain Brain, David Perlmutter, MD, offers these valuable tools: Simple games to reinforce memory pathways in the brain Information on common household products and children’s toys that contain brain-damaging neurotoxins The right foods and supplements to boost intelligence and turn on your child’s smart genes How to turn the television, the computer, and video games into educational tools Proven ways to reduce the risk of your child developing ADD and ADHD Between birth and age five, your child has up to thirty IQ points at stake. Scientists now know that the human brain is undergoing a constant and dramatic transformation in the first years of life. During this peak time of development, every activity and experience leaves an indelible mark on your baby’s brain, for better or worse. The right kind of stimulation and nutrition will create connections in the brain that promote intelligence and raise IQ. The wrong kinds of activities and foods can stifle intellectual development, destroy brain cells, and leave your child more vulnerable to learning or behavior problems down the road. So, what can you do during the first five years to ensure that your child is primed to excel? The good news is that raising a smarter child is easier than you think. It doesn’t require making an investment in expensive equipment or high priced tutors. It’s as simple as playing the right games, serving the right foods, and maintaining a brain-enhancing environment in your home by eliminating common household toxins. In Raise a Smarter Child by Kindergarten by Dr. David Perlmutter, you’ll learn easy and highly effective strategies that can vastly improve your child’s brain power and reduce his or her chances of developing ADD and ADHD. For example, you can: Stimulate Memory: Changing a component on the over-the-crib mobile every week makes the baby compare what was there before to what’s there now, reinforcing memory pathways in the brain that are critical for learning. Spread out those shots: Schedule more frequent trips to the pediatrician for vaccinations, so that fewer shots are administered at once. Flooding the immune system with a cocktail of different vaccines can damage the nervous system. Get rid of toxins: Protecting a child from neurotoxins found in foods, toys and even baby bottles can help preserve precious IQ points. Inside, Dr. Perlmutter provides a scientifically backed food and supplement plan for children and nursing mothers and details the many brain-building activities that you can do with your child. In addition, he reveals the numerous toys and household products that contain harmful, brain-damaging toxins and shows how to identify and combat common childhood problems like ADD and food allergies that may affect your child’s development. Your job over the first five years is to help your child build the best brain possible. With Dr. Perlmutter’s help, you can mine the countless opportunities you have each day to make your child smarter, happier and better prepared to excel.

It may "take a village to raise a child," but most American families are struggling, with diminishing social support, to do the job on their own. While parents work longer hours for less and the costs of childcare, healthcare, and college skyrocket, the share of the U.S. budget spent on kids has fallen 22 percent since 1960. More and more children may well not make it to a healthy, productive adulthood. That's terrible for them--and for us as well.It doesn't have to be this way. In this book, renowned expert David L. Kirp clarifies the importance of investing wisely in children. He outlines a visionary "Kids First" policy agenda that's guided by a "golden rule" principle: Every child deserves what's good enough for a child you love. And he offers lively and inspiring, on-the-ground accounts of five big cradle-to-college initiatives that can change the arc of all children's lives: strong support for parents; high-quality early education; linking schools and communities to improve what both offer children; giving all youngsters access to a caring and stable adult mentor; and providing kids a nest egg to help pay for college or kick-start a career.