Amazon.com Review
Beyond child development theory and experts, beyond the "shoulds" and the "don'ts" that guilt-ridden parents constantly hear echoing in their ears, there's Vicki Iovine, America's favorite "girlfriend" and mother-in-the-trenches. In The Girlfriends' Guide to Toddlers, Iovine's third addition to her parenting panoply (The Girlfriends' Guide to Pregnancy and The Girlfriends' Guide to Surviving the First Year of Motherhood) Iovine focuses, for the first time, more on the child than on the mother. (Toddlers always get all the attention, don't they?) Iovine is wise, and not just because she's read all the current parenting literature (she has) or heard it from her famous mythical "girlfriends." Iovine knows what she's talking about because she has four young children and she's been through it all. In her ongoing vision of parenting, humor and a network of friends play an important role, bribery has its place, discipline is sensible and loving, and advice is grounded in the practical rather than the theoretical. From "Eating (or Not)" to "Discipline" to "The Comfort Zone" (Binkies, Bankies, Loveys and Thumbs) to Potty Training ("What's the Big Rush?") to "Sleepy Time" to "Fashion" (yes, it's an issue for toddlers), Iovine continues her mission to inform the contemporary parent, to tell the truth, to boldly go where many child development experts have gone before, and to keep her readers laughing while she does it. --Ericka Lutz