No Regrets Parenting: Turning Long Days and Short Years into Cherished Moments with Your Kids

In quick hits, small bites, and short lists of essential, commonsense and occasionally creative advice, pediatrician Rotbart answers a parent’s three most commonly asked questions: what do my kids need from me? what must I do to be a good parent? how can I avoid feeling guilty for not doing everything? His aim is to help parents maximize and optimize time spent with their kids and realize that there is ample opportunity for active and passive positive interaction every day, from crib through college. This is a busy parent’s time management guide, demonstrating how to find balance, turn “minutes into moments,” develop reliable parental intuition, and transform everyday routines into special times, without neglecting personal and professional responsibilities. Part one has instructions for providing the “Eight Essentials” of security, stability, consistency, emotional support, love, education, positive role models, and structure; dispelling the disastrous, desperate “3Ds”—distraction, distortion, and deception; and developing mindfulness techniques. Part two provides 60 specific strategies covering all aspects of child-rearing from sleep, school, and nutrition to entertainment, outdoor activities, communication, and spirit and soul. A wonderful epilogue about sending kids off to college congratulates parents for their good work. Time passes all too fast, and when the kids do leave home, readers who followed Rotbart’s blueprint will greet their children’s departure with satisfaction of a job well done and the acknowledgment thereof. Agent: Lisa Leshne, LJK Literary Management. (Feb.)