The Gay Uncle's Guide to Parenting

Before Hollis was born, I think I bought every pregnancy and baby book published in the free world. I could have started my own resource library. Most of them, frankly, sucked. Everyone has conflicting advice: Dr. Sears says you shouldn't let your child cry and wear them whenever possible; Dr. Ferber says you should let them cry it out (as did my mom!). This conflicting advice continued in the hospital with the nurses and lactation consultants. Once we were out of the hospital and discovered Hollis had some health problems, we got conflicting advice from doctors.

Only when Hollis was about 16 months old (and Holden was about 2 weeks) did I really learn to trust my gut. In the hospital, everyone let me do what I wanted because it was my second child. The assumption was that I knew what I was doing. I still needed some advice, but I tossed all of those parenting books because their preachy manner and unreasonable advice just pissed me off. (Seriously, who has time to feed a baby with a dropper, pump for 30 minutes, store the milk, and sleep before starting all over again? A bottle with breast milk in it for a day or so is not the end of the world!)

Even now, I could still use some advice on how to handle Hollis's nightmare 3 year old tantrums and how to get Holden to stop head butting everyone he meets. (Damn Finding Nemo! He thinks knocking heads and saying "noggin" is a sign of affection.) I refuse to go back to useless parenting guides, so I basically rely on the advice of my friends and family.

Enter the Gay Uncle's Guide to Parenting. The author, Brett Berk, was a pre-school teacher and director and is now a research consultant for "producers of kids' media, toys and consumer products." I'll forgive him for his transgressions in marketing crap to my kids because his book is so funny. Seriously, go read this guy's blog. The book is just as funny.

More than entertaining, the G.U.G. is chock full of actual concrete, real life examples regarding toilet training, discipline, food issues, sibling rivalry, etc.... And Brett (can I call you Brett, G.U.?) actually tackles the hard cases rather than simply making general statements about what we "should" do. This is practical advice for handling the preschool set and it's wonderful.

The book will be a bestseller, right up there with the Girlfriend's Guides. Or at least it should be in my opinion. And we all know that my opinion is the only one that counts, right? Right?

Anyway, I'm giving this book out as gifts to my friends with toddlers.

In a Lawyer Mama Review FIRST, I like this book so much I'm going to give away the extra copy the publisher sent me on my blog. I usually pass on my extra copies (if I get any) to a local friend for a second opinion, because I'm too lazy to mail out stuff. But I like this book so much, I'm going to give one away.

In the comments, tell me what burning toddler question you wish advice books actually answered and I'll draw a person at random to get the book. I'll leave the drawing open until next Friday, March 14th.

This review is brought to you by Mother Talk.

Highlights High Five Magazine Gets a High Five From Me

In elementary school, I always looked forward to the day we got our Highlights magazines. I eagerly read every story, tried out the crafts, and solved all the puzzles. I loved, loved, LOVED the hidden picture puzzles. Highlights day was always a great day at school.

Highlights has been around for 60 years now. You know that anything with the sort of staying power that can interest so many generations of children has to be special. So when PBN offered me the chance to review High Five, a new Highlights magazine for children ages 2 to 6, I jumped at the chance. I couldn't wait to see if High Five was as wonderful as the Highlights magazine I remember from my childhood.

High Five didn't disappoint me. I received the first 3 issues from 2008. Each issue contains four sections: (1) Let's Read Together, with short stories, poems, and wonderful illustrations; (2) Let's Puzzle It Out, with fun games and age appropriate hidden picture puzzles; (3) Let's Do it, with crafts, recipes for kids, and fun activities; and (4) Bonus Pull-out Pages.

Hollis, my 3 year old, and Holden, my just-turned-2 year old, loved the magazines. The Bonus Pages were a huge hit. The January 2008 magazine Pull-out Pages featured numbered egg puzzle pieces that you cut out and put together as you read one of the short stories in the magazine, Little Round Hen. H & H are currently obsessed with puzzles and wanted to repeat Little Round Hen over and over again. I even sucked it up and helped because I love that it helps them understand what they're hearing.

The stories were also a huge hit. One issue contains a short story with Hollis's favorite topic of all time: construction equipment. He's been bringing the magazine to bed for 2 weeks now so he can page through it before he falls asleep and when he wakes up in the morning.

I can't say enough about High Five. At just under $30 a year, a subscription to this magazine is definitely on my gift list for the boys. It will make a wonderful Easter present. Anything that gets them this excited about reading is worth every penny.

PBN is also having a Blog Blast tomorrow where you can win a free year's subscription to High Five or Highlights. Go check out how you can play!