Product Description"DEAR PARENT" presents a simple yet ground-breaking, natural yet thought-provoking way to raise your child. Magda Gerber's philosophy of respect for your infant -- and for yourself as a parent -- changed my life. It transformed me from a baffled, overwhelmed new mother to a confident, fulfilled one. Magda taught me that if I fully focused on my baby during "caring times" (feeding, diapering, bathing), I didn't have to 'teach' her how to sit, crawl, walk, talk or play. When she was ready to do those things, she did so naturally. And she owned them. I learned to let my child's play time be hers, a time to follow her own curiosity and direciton without interruption. The joy I found in observing my child and her discoveries helped me to survive the loneliness and doldrums of parenting an infant/toddler. My child is still inclined to spend long periods of time without TV, videos, or suggestions from me, entertaining and educating herself with self-initiated activities, creations, and daydreams.ReviewThis is a good book to have if you have already read Your Self-Confident Baby, actually written by Magda Gerber, and are an enthusiast. It's a series of essays and talks given by Gerber and edited by someone else into a semi-coherent guide. It's the first book we read on the subject, and taking the theory of respect into practice has made a giant difference in our interactions with our son, but we were both annoyed by the occasionally hectoring tone. I have just finished the Self-Confident Baby, and found it to be more coherent, more comprehensive, more sympathetic, and all around more useful. I definitely recommend the RIE method to any new parent or grandparent, it's made a world of difference in the level of peace in our household with our (very) active son, but start with the other book.About the AuthorMagda Gerber was an early childhood educator in the United States and is known for teaching parents and caregivers how to understand babies and interact with them respectfully from birth.

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