SuperBaby Book Review and Giveaway

I recently had the chance to review SuperBaby: 12 Ways to Give Your Child a Head Start in the First 3 Years, a book that came out last week. SuperBaby shows parents how to take advantage of the critical first three years of their baby’s life. As a mom of a one and two year old I found a lot of useful information in this book and I haven’t even finished reading it yet!

At first I didn’t know what to expect because I wondered if the term “SuperBaby” fit what I really wanted my children to be. The press release for this book explained though that “Raising a superbaby is not about creating an überbaby: a perfect, genius who will get into all the right preschools and colleges. Instead, it is about raising a child who is empathetic, resilient, and is emotionally intelligent. It is about nurturing a baby to help her reach her full potential.” That IS what I wanted for my children so I dove into the book.

In each chapter of SuperBaby, Dr. Jenn focuses on one of twelve areas that greatly impact a baby’s development. These include respectful communication, responding to cues, creating security and predictability, the importance of touch, promoting language development, sign language, foreign language, the importance of play, reading, screen (tv) time, reducing exposure to toxic chemicals, and eating & nutrition.

I was especially interested in the chapter on language development. Dr. Jenn says that “it has been shown that the sheer number of words spoken to a child is directly proportionate to the size of her vocabulary. However, this applies only to direct conversations you have with your child. The words she overhears from television, videos, radio, or other conversations do not count.” I was happy to learn this because I talk all the time to my toddler and was told by someone that I talked “too much”.

I also read something about sharing that made perfect sense to me but that I don’t really practice that often. Dr. Jenn suggested that parents share with their children (which I already do) but that when we do so we narrate what we are doing. Saying things like “I will share my drink with you.” “Can I have a sip of your drink…we are sharing a drink!” “It’s my turn, and then it will be your turn… we are taking turns… we are sharing!” A simple idea but putting words to our actions helps a lot!

Overall, I’ve enjoyed what I’ve read in this book and look forward to reading more of it over these next few weeks (and probably years as I refer back to it). I also hope to share guest posts from the author with more tips on how we can give our young children a head start in life.

Giveaway:

One person will win a copy of the book, SuperBaby: 12 Ways To Give Your Child A Head Start In The First 3 Years

How To Enter (leave a comment below for each one):

1. Tell me why you want to win this book

2. Subscribe to Making Time For Mommy

3. “Like” Making Time For Mommy on Facebook

4. Follow @aliciamarie112 on Twitter

5. Tweet the following: “Enter to win the book SuperBaby from @aliciamarie112 at www.makingtimeformommy.com “

6. Enter another giveaway and let me know which one you entered

Giveaway ends October 15, 2010 at 11:59pm.

(Disclosure: I received a copy of SuperBaby from Sterling Publishing for review. All opinions are my own.)