The Confident Parent – Book Review

I received a copy of this book to review in exchange for this post. Any opinions expressed here are honest and my own.

A little background about this book:

Neonatologist and pediatrician Dr. Jane Scott was born in Mombasa, Kenya, lived in England and Ireland, and raised her kids on four continents including in the Australian outback and the South African desert. She’s been a single parent, a working mother, and a stay at home mother and knows how frustrating and overwhelming it can be. Despite the challenges of raising children in a harsh landscape and political climate, she’ll be the first to tell you that it was in America where her adventures truly began.

When Scott initially started in pediatrics in the US, she thought she would spend her time soothing children – however, she found herself spending half her time soothing parent who were stressed out by the pressures of parenting, usually unnecessarily. Informed by a unique global perspective, her new release THE CONFIDENT PARENT: A Pediatrician’s Guide to Caring for Your Little One – Without Losing Your Joy, Your Mind, or Yourself co-written with Stephanie Land helps parents dial down their insecurities and anxieties with a back-to-basics approach. By taking a look at how other countries and cultures raise children, Dr. Scott reminds parents that we could all benefit from a world of best practice that will release parents from the culturally imposed pressure and stress that has become a de facto parenting badge of honor.

Review: 

As mentioned in this book, there are so many different parenting techniques that are tried and true and the beauty of this book is that Scott shared so many other techniques she observed while living abroad which some parents would have no known concept of….including myself.  One thing I was amazed about in this book is that Scott brought up the concept that here in the US, opposed to other countries, is that our county has allowed our culture traditions and common sense to be highjacked by personalities and media outlets that profit off our fear.  Other countries aren’t giving into this “fear tactic” to be the “perfect parent” and I personally think we as a country have a lot to learn about this from other countries.  Scott also mentioned a key-note that hits the nail on the head…”If we could break down our assumptions about what entails good parenting, we could benefit from a world of best practice  that will release parents from the culturally imposed pressure and stress that has become a de facto parenting badge of honor, still turning out equally successful children, while inspiring far more family joy.”  Finding family balance is key and this book is here to help you with that.

THE CONFIDENT PARENT: A Pediatrician’s Guide to Caring for Your Little One – Without Losing Your Joy, Your Mind, or Yourself  can be purchased at Amazon, Barnes & Noble or anywhere books are sold.

More about the author:

JANE SCOTT is a trained pediatrician and neonatologist now working in the private sector, developing medical devices to help infants and children around the world. Before training at Duke University, Dr. Scott lived in England and Ireland, as well as the Australian outback and the South African desert. She has four children of her own, born on three continents, and now is a doting grandparent. Learn more at http://confidentparentbook.com/.