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.

The demand for child-care spaces is huge. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, approximately 13 million children under the age of six spend some or all of their day being cared for by someone other than their parents. The child-care shortage is everyone's problem – for parents (whether you work outside the home or not), employers, and the children. The prospect of choosing the right childcare can be overwhelming. Put your mind at ease with Choosing Childcare For Dummies. This reference guide is brimming with practical advice to help you find high-quality childcare for the child in your life – whether he or she is a biological child, stepchild, grandchild, foster child, or the child of your significant other. From figuring out affordability to knowing what to do if you suspect neglect or abuse, Choosing Childcare For Dummies covers it all. Inside the book you'll find out how to Weigh the pros and cons of your various child-care options Determine high quality childcare Evaluate out-of-home childcare Hire a nanny or a relative for in-home care Get guidance on the legal issues of being an employer Conduct a reference check Determine if you need a "nanny cam" Recognize the ten signs that your child-care arrangement is in trouble Ease your child into a new child-care arrangement Find back-up childcare Because the United States has no countrywide child-care “system” in place, we’ve ended up with a patchwork quilt of regulations that don’t quite mesh the way they should. This is why so many child-care programs are exempt from the child-care legislation that’s intended to protect children. The bottom line? You can’t count on anyone else to guarantee your child’s health, safety, and well-being in a particular child-care setting. Like it or not, the buck stops with you. That’s why you owe it to yourself and your child to read books like this one that show you how to be a savvy day-care consumer.

Stop changing diapers?start potting your baby. Over half the world's children are potty trained by one year old, yet the average potty training age in the United States is currently three years old. This leaves parents wondering: What did people do before diapers? and How do I help my own baby out of diapers sooner?Elimination Communication, also known as EC, is the natural alternative to full-time diapers and conventional toilet training. Although human babies have been pottied from birth for all human history, we've modernized the technique to work in today's busy world.Go Diaper Free shows parents of 0-18 month babies, step-by-step, how to do EC with confidence, whether full time or part time, with diapers or without. "Diaper-free" doesn't mean a naked baby making a mess everywhere - it actually means free from dependence upon diapers. With this book, new parents can avoid years of messy diapers, potty training struggles, diaper rash, and unexplained fussiness. Also helpful for those considering EC, in the middle of a potty pause, or confused about how to begin.This 6th edition includes a new section on The Dream Pee, a full text and graphic revision, more photos of EC in action, and a complete list of further resources.MULTIMEDIA EDITION: includes the book and access to private video library, helpful downloads, additional troubleshooting, and our private online support group run by our Certified Coaches. For less than the cost of a case of diapers, you can learn EC hands-on, the way it's meant to be learned.

Named one of Vulture’s Top 10 Best Books of 2020! Leftist firebrand Fredrik deBoer exposes the lie at the heart of our educational system and demands top-to-bottom reform. Everyone agrees that education is the key to creating a more just and equal world, and that our schools are broken and failing. Proposed reforms variously target incompetent teachers, corrupt union practices, or outdated curricula, but no one acknowledges a scientifically-proven fact that we all understand intuitively: Academic potential varies between individuals, and cannot be dramatically improved. In The Cult of Smart, educator and outspoken leftist Fredrik deBoer exposes this omission as the central flaw of our entire society, which has created and perpetuated an unjust class structure based on intellectual ability. Since cognitive talent varies from person to person, our education system can never create equal opportunity for all. Instead, it teaches our children that hierarchy and competition are natural, and that human value should be based on intelligence. These ideas are counter to everything that the left believes, but until they acknowledge the existence of individual cognitive differences, progressives remain complicit in keeping the status quo in place. This passionate, voice-driven manifesto demands that we embrace a new goal for education: equality of outcomes. We must create a world that has a place for everyone, not just the academically talented. But we’ll never achieve this dream until the Cult of Smart is destroyed.

Discover new, practical methods for teaching literacy skills in your early childhood classroom. Has teaching early literacy skills become a stumbling block to getting your preschool students kindergarten ready? Break out of the tired “letter of the week” routine and learn how to transform your lessons with fun and effective techniques. Teach Smarter: Literacy Strategies for Early Childhood Teachers will equip teachers to infuse every aspect of their teaching with exciting hands-on literacy teaching methods that engage students and help them build authentic connections with books, so that 100% of their students will have a strong literacy foundation and will be fully prepared for success in kindergarten and beyond. Respected author Vanessa Levin, veteran early childhood educator and author of the “Pre-K Pages” blog, breaks down the research and translates it into realistic, actionable steps you can take to improve your teaching. Features specific examples of teaching techniques and activities that engage students in hands-on, experiential learning during circle time, centers, and small groups. Offers a simple, four-step system for teaching literacy skills, based on the foundational principles of early literacy teaching Demonstrates how to build your confidence in your ability to get 100% of your students ready for kindergarten, long before the end of the school year Understand the problems with traditional literacy teaching and identify gaps in your current teaching practice with this valuable resource.

A modern parenting classic—a guide to a new and gentle way of understanding the care and nurture of infants, by the internationally renowned childcare expert, podcaster, and author of No Bad Kids “An absolute go-to for all parents, therapists, anyone who works with, is, or knows parents of young children.”—Wendy Denham, PhD A Resources for Infant Educarers (RIE) teacher and student of pioneering child specialist Magda Gerber, Janet Lansbury helps parents look at the world through the eyes of their infants and relate to them as whole people who have natural abilities to learn without being taught. Once we are able to view our children in this light, even the most common daily parenting experiences become stimulating opportunities to learn, discover, and connect with our child. A collection of the most-read articles from Janet’s popular and long-running blog, Elevating Child Care focuses on common infant issues, including: • Nourishing our babies’ healthy eating habits • Calming your clingy, fearful child • How to build your child’s focus and attention span • Developing routines that promote restful sleep Eschewing the quick-fix tips and tricks of popular parenting culture, Lansbury’s gentle, insightful guidance lays the foundation for a closer, more fulfilling parent-child relationship, and children who grow up to be authentic, confident, successful adults.

Every week new discoveries about the brain make the news, often promising parents the latest “right” way to nurture their kids’ developing brains and behavior. And every day there’s a new technology that demands your child’s attention, a new game or toy that purports to make your kid smarter, and a new snack promising to be healthy as well as tasty. How’s a busy parent to make heads or tails of all these claims? You turn to Dr. David Walsh, an expert at translating the headline-making, cutting-edge findings into practical suggestions for parenting today. In his previous bestseller, Why Do They Act That Way?, Walsh showed how to manage the difficult teenage years by understanding how the adolescent brain develops. Now he’s written a complete guide to parenting from birth through the teen years, with recommendations that will help maximize any child’s potential. Smart Parenting, Smarter Kids doesn’t just describe new research findings or explain interesting brain facts. It equips parents with usable information across a range of topics, like exercise, nutrition, play, sleep, stress, self-discipline, emotional intelligence, and connection. Some discoveries in neuroscience confirm age-old parental wisdom while others may prompt you to make immediate changes. Still other brain discoveries help explain behaviors that have puzzled parents forever, like why friendly, easygoing kids can become withdrawn and sullen dragons overnight when they enter adolescence, or why girls and boys tend to have such different classroom experiences. Filled with helpful quizzes and checklists for easy reference, Smart Parenting, Smarter Kids gives specific advice about how to make the best daycare, preschool, and schooling decisions for your kids; for example, how to deal with stressful events as a family, and how to manage your child’s internet and media use. And all these findings across different fields of research work together in reaching the same goal: When children are guided to eat, sleep, play, exercise, learn, and connect with others in healthy ways, their minds blossom and they are able to reach their full potential—academically, socially, physically, and emotionally. These real-life applications in Dr. Walsh’s new book put science into practice with a personal plan that explains how (and why) you can parent with the brain in mind.