Trees Make the Best Mobiles: Simple Ways to Raise Your Child in a Complex World
by Jessica Teich, Brandel France de Bravo | Parenting & Families | This book has not been rated.
ISBN: 0312269307 Global Overview for this book
ISBN: 0312269307 Global Overview for this book
Registered by GorgeousGlo on 9/19/2005
2 journalers for this copy...
I don't have children, but i liked the title of this book. From its description, it almost sounds like it should be paired with Parenthood by Proxy by Dr. Laura.
From Amazon:
Books like Simplify Your Life and Don't Sweat the Small Stuff have encouraged millions of readers to slow down and enjoy life more. Now, Jessica Teich and Brandel France de Bravo help new parents- who barely have time to return a phone call or wash a sock- learn to do less, listen more, and spend focused, fruitful time with their children. Practical and fun to read, Trees Make the Best Mobiles urges parents to treat every task-even diapering and feeding-as a chance to connect with their child, and gives calming advice about hot-button issues from pacifier use to temper tantrums. Parents will be relieved to discover that they don't have to buy lots of stuff-a tree outside a baby's window can serve as a mobile-or shuttle kids from one activity to another. In fact, in today's hectic, high-speed world, children need less "stimulation" and more unhurried interaction with the people who matter most. The authors call their approach "present parenting," because they believe being "present in the moment," without resentment or distraction, is the greatest present any parent can give.
From Amazon:
Books like Simplify Your Life and Don't Sweat the Small Stuff have encouraged millions of readers to slow down and enjoy life more. Now, Jessica Teich and Brandel France de Bravo help new parents- who barely have time to return a phone call or wash a sock- learn to do less, listen more, and spend focused, fruitful time with their children. Practical and fun to read, Trees Make the Best Mobiles urges parents to treat every task-even diapering and feeding-as a chance to connect with their child, and gives calming advice about hot-button issues from pacifier use to temper tantrums. Parents will be relieved to discover that they don't have to buy lots of stuff-a tree outside a baby's window can serve as a mobile-or shuttle kids from one activity to another. In fact, in today's hectic, high-speed world, children need less "stimulation" and more unhurried interaction with the people who matter most. The authors call their approach "present parenting," because they believe being "present in the moment," without resentment or distraction, is the greatest present any parent can give.
Sent as a RABCK to Christel The Book Fairy, who can make good use of this book with her little one.
Oh my goodness.
I got this book on Friday and it made me cry. I mean, I pulled it out of the envelope and got all teary eyed, and then I started reading it and again was all teary eyed, and now I'm getting all verklempt just remembering it.
The fact that I'm not journaling a new book until four days after I got it should tell you how chaotic things are, since I'm usually so much more conscientious. I've been working from home and taking classes and also trying to get things lined up to buy a new house while packing up the one I'm living in so we can move. All, of course, with my beautiful little daughter in tow. My beautiful little daughter who has, unfortunately, started teething. Now she's like Dr Jekyll and Tiny Girl Hyde. I mean, mood swings like you wouldn't believe, and periods of time when I really have no clue how to make her happy. We joke that she's got the earliest case of PMS in recorded history, but in reality it's exhausting and confusing, especially when I was so spoiled by her even keeled first few months.
Well, things just completely hit the fan on Friday when Leah had a complete meltdown of a day; probably the worst day I've ever had with her since she was born. Between 7 AM and 5 PM she napped for a total of about 37 minutes, and she was tired, cranky, uncomfortable, and generally just a wreck. I was home alone with her all day and felt completely overwhelmed; I think it was probably the first time I ever seriously thought, "You know, maybe I won't have another baby someday..."
A big part of the challenge for me on Friday was that Leah's dad and I decided before she was born that we didn't want her watching any tv for the first couple of years. I mean, I'm sure I watched a ton when I was a kid and I'm getting a doctorate at Columbia, so it's clearly not the most detrimental thing in the world, but my philosophy has been that anything she can learn from tv, she can learn from me, and we can have a better time doing it. I also worried that relying on tv would make me a lazy parent, that rather than spending time with her or trying to figure her out or engaging with her, it would be too easy to just drop her in front of the tv, especially now that she's Princess Screamerpants and I've got a ton of stuff to do for school and the house.
Well, Friday was just a real test of this philosophy. I've seen how transfixed she can get just watching a screensaver on a computer, and as she was fussing and crying and falling apart, I knew that if I just popped in some infant dvd and set her down she'd probably be hypnotized and quiet within a matter of seconds. But I also knew that would be a hard bit of toothpaste to get back in the tube, because when you say you're not going to do something and then you do it once, even if you swear it will just be that one time, you usually end up doing it again.
So by 5:00 I finally got her to sleep (in my bed rather than the crib, but who cares at that point), and by 6:00 her dad had come home to find me a crumpled, exhausted pile of a mess on the couch (probably with a well earned glass of wine, but it's all a blur now). He gave me the stack of mail and right away I wondered how I could be getting a book from Glo (and I secretly hoped it was a RABCK!).
And there it was, this wonderful affirmation of everything I had struggled with that day. Just reading the blurbs on the dustjacket, this felt like a postcard from a guardian angel telling me to just hang in there because even when it felt like the worst day ever, I was still doing things right.
Then I started reading the book and I felt even more affirmed. The entire style is right up my alley, and even if I don't agree with the occasional technique (for instance, we will never be a pacifier free home), the whole philosophy of trying to really be "present" when you're parenting really hit home. It's so easy to feel distracted or to want to multi-task, by reading a book while I give her a bottle, for instance, or wanting to rush her past what she's doing so I can get back to the work that's waiting for me.
I try so hard every day to remember that I won't, on my deathbed, say "I wish I had done more work", and that she won't always be small enough to curl up on my lap and gaze up at me, and that I have to really be in the moment with her as much as I can. This book seems like a wonderful guide for all of that, and I am so grateful for you thinking of me and sending it over. It absolutely could not come at a better time, and I can honestly say that my life and my family's will be better for it.
(oh gosh, now I'm crying again)
Well, this is officially the longest journal entry I've ever made on a book (especially one I've only ready 25% of so far), but if anyone appreciates a good meaty journal entry it's Gloria, so I know it's all good. Thanks again, it really means so much and you haven't heard the last of me on this one!
I got this book on Friday and it made me cry. I mean, I pulled it out of the envelope and got all teary eyed, and then I started reading it and again was all teary eyed, and now I'm getting all verklempt just remembering it.
The fact that I'm not journaling a new book until four days after I got it should tell you how chaotic things are, since I'm usually so much more conscientious. I've been working from home and taking classes and also trying to get things lined up to buy a new house while packing up the one I'm living in so we can move. All, of course, with my beautiful little daughter in tow. My beautiful little daughter who has, unfortunately, started teething. Now she's like Dr Jekyll and Tiny Girl Hyde. I mean, mood swings like you wouldn't believe, and periods of time when I really have no clue how to make her happy. We joke that she's got the earliest case of PMS in recorded history, but in reality it's exhausting and confusing, especially when I was so spoiled by her even keeled first few months.
Well, things just completely hit the fan on Friday when Leah had a complete meltdown of a day; probably the worst day I've ever had with her since she was born. Between 7 AM and 5 PM she napped for a total of about 37 minutes, and she was tired, cranky, uncomfortable, and generally just a wreck. I was home alone with her all day and felt completely overwhelmed; I think it was probably the first time I ever seriously thought, "You know, maybe I won't have another baby someday..."
A big part of the challenge for me on Friday was that Leah's dad and I decided before she was born that we didn't want her watching any tv for the first couple of years. I mean, I'm sure I watched a ton when I was a kid and I'm getting a doctorate at Columbia, so it's clearly not the most detrimental thing in the world, but my philosophy has been that anything she can learn from tv, she can learn from me, and we can have a better time doing it. I also worried that relying on tv would make me a lazy parent, that rather than spending time with her or trying to figure her out or engaging with her, it would be too easy to just drop her in front of the tv, especially now that she's Princess Screamerpants and I've got a ton of stuff to do for school and the house.
Well, Friday was just a real test of this philosophy. I've seen how transfixed she can get just watching a screensaver on a computer, and as she was fussing and crying and falling apart, I knew that if I just popped in some infant dvd and set her down she'd probably be hypnotized and quiet within a matter of seconds. But I also knew that would be a hard bit of toothpaste to get back in the tube, because when you say you're not going to do something and then you do it once, even if you swear it will just be that one time, you usually end up doing it again.
So by 5:00 I finally got her to sleep (in my bed rather than the crib, but who cares at that point), and by 6:00 her dad had come home to find me a crumpled, exhausted pile of a mess on the couch (probably with a well earned glass of wine, but it's all a blur now). He gave me the stack of mail and right away I wondered how I could be getting a book from Glo (and I secretly hoped it was a RABCK!).
And there it was, this wonderful affirmation of everything I had struggled with that day. Just reading the blurbs on the dustjacket, this felt like a postcard from a guardian angel telling me to just hang in there because even when it felt like the worst day ever, I was still doing things right.
Then I started reading the book and I felt even more affirmed. The entire style is right up my alley, and even if I don't agree with the occasional technique (for instance, we will never be a pacifier free home), the whole philosophy of trying to really be "present" when you're parenting really hit home. It's so easy to feel distracted or to want to multi-task, by reading a book while I give her a bottle, for instance, or wanting to rush her past what she's doing so I can get back to the work that's waiting for me.
I try so hard every day to remember that I won't, on my deathbed, say "I wish I had done more work", and that she won't always be small enough to curl up on my lap and gaze up at me, and that I have to really be in the moment with her as much as I can. This book seems like a wonderful guide for all of that, and I am so grateful for you thinking of me and sending it over. It absolutely could not come at a better time, and I can honestly say that my life and my family's will be better for it.
(oh gosh, now I'm crying again)
Well, this is officially the longest journal entry I've ever made on a book (especially one I've only ready 25% of so far), but if anyone appreciates a good meaty journal entry it's Gloria, so I know it's all good. Thanks again, it really means so much and you haven't heard the last of me on this one!
