Creative Parenting: A Continuum of Child Care from Birth Through Adolescence

Margaret E. Kidd is a member of Toronto’s Child & Family Services
Review Board.

Dr. Sears approaches the craft of parenting both as a pediatrician and as a father. He deals carefully with physical needs and difficulties, giving a good deal of attention to the newborn. His attitude is practical and realistic, yet nurturant. His answer to the often-asked question: “Should I let my baby cry?” is: “Babies cry because they have a need. To ignore the cry is to ignore the needs. A newborn whose signals are promptly attended to grows up trusting his environment and feels that the world is a pleasant place to be.”

This well-indexed volume is a comprehensive treatment of parenting. It provides the parent with a meaningful discussion of the highlights of parenting a child. He includes both positive guidance and things to avoid, medical information re childhood diseases and common abnormalities, and developmental guideposts in personal, social, and adaptive behaviours.

This book is a valuable reference. It refers to the views of Jean Piaget, Madame Montessori, and Selma Fraiberg, although their ideas are not specifically analyzed. Discipline is treated as a positive concept: the motive of the adult is a teaching one, and the discipline is a learning experience for the child. Different stages of development are shown to require different adaptations of discipline.

Dr. Sears’ attention to the careful nurturing of children will be highly appreciated by those families with the social and economic ability to adapt. However, it is unfortunate that he uses the term “daycare disease,” although he presents various options to leaving a child in group care. Certainly, parents must consider carefully the kind of care available, but many have few alternatives! Trained professionals are increasingly attuned to the standard of child care presented in this book. He implies that care at home is always the best choice, rejecting the need of many parents to work outside the home.

However, the tone of this book is primarily positive and supportive of parents. Although it is full of suggestions and advice, it does not belittle or “talk down” to parents. Perhaps this is best exemplified in the admonition, “Parents! trust and believe in yourselves as effective teachers of your child.”