The New Parent Survival Handbook

Margaret E. Kidd, formerly the Co-ordinator of the Ryerson Polytechnical
Institute’s Daycare Centre, is now associated with the Child & Family
Services Review Board in Toronto.

This handy informative book provides an indexed collection of helpful
tips for parents of small children, from babies to 10-year-olds. A wide
range of topics are covered: new babies’ eating and sleeping patterns,
medical and school concerns, travel tips, and ideas for playtime and
birthdays for the young and growing child.

It is interesting and easy to read, although the tendency to be
“cutesy” in tone may not match everyone’s sense of humor. Useful
ideas are interspersed with parental anecdotes, providing a variety of
points of view.

McKay has assembled a good quick read for any new parent, and a
reference of remedies for frustrating occasions encountered by parents
of preschoolers and children in the early school years. These
suggestions will probably spark further ideas in the reader.