The Girlfriends' Guide to Toddlers

This book is part of a popular series by Vicki Iovine--Girlfriends' Guide to Pregnancy, to Surviving the First Year, etc. It's easy to see why they're popular. The author has a breezy and funny writing style that does indeed make it seem like you're just chatting with your girlfriends about all the ins and outs of toddlerhood.

However. Although this was not quite as negative in worldview as the pregnancy guide, it was still pretty negative. It's interesting. I would start to get hopeful because Ms. Iovine would talk about how cosleeping is okay, how you have to listen to yourself and your own intuition and all that and blah blah blah that seems less judgmental and bossy than many of the guides out there...but then she'd throw in something about how you have to get them to stay in their bed NOW or you NEVER WILL!

Sort of infuriating how those old ideas just stick in the back of our heads and taint everything we think and we don't even notice how nonsensical they are.

Still, it's a fairly fun read, if you don't mind the fact that it's mostly complaining about the more challenging aspects of toddlerhood that you might run into (and notice that I said MIGHT, that's another thing I don't like, the incredible stereotyping of things that All Toddlers Do!). And it does have the disclaimer that toddlers are great people. But it's not my thing. Too negative and still has too many of the old theories about kids that I just can't buy into.

So there you go.