My Baby Compass~ my review

There are a few things I want to clear up right away. Your baby does not come with a guide to parenting. There is no book that will be able to teach you everything you need to know about being a great parent. This book doesn't teach you how to be a great parent. This book, "My Baby Compass" is made for great parents to use, and become even better parents. This is the type of book that pro-active parents use to be better at parenting. If you are the type of parent who seeks out ways to help your child, and you strive to help your child reach his or her full potential, then this book is for you.

I was excited to have the chance to read this book, I didn't realize until I started reading that it was actually a program.These books are for parents asking the question, " Is my child on target for development?"  Once I began reading, I had to stop, get up and go find a pen. I immediately started marking and underlining nuggets of valuable information. There were so many parts to this that I know I've heard before, but the author "Kathryn Thorson Gruhn, MA, CCC-SLP" words things in such a way that you have that "ah-ha" moment where it makes perfect sense.

This program series comes in three different books.

1. Birth to Two Years
2. Two to Four~ This is the one that I'm reviewing, since the Booper is Two years old.
3. Four to Seven

I loved that this book came with a spiral binding. That may seem silly but it was very nice since I was making notes and doing lots of highlighting and underlining. With the Booper being very attached to his pacifier for extended amount of time, I was worried that his speech was being affected. He has given up the "Paci" as we called it, but I wasn't sure if he was behind in his speech or not. I got my answer by filling out one of the included check lists. You are able to gauge where you child is behind, ahead or right on track. I was happy to see that Mr. Boop is right on track for his age in speech. You have a checklist, and you fill it out, but you notice your child is behind in a certain area. What do you do? "My Baby Compass" has activities right next to the check list that you can do with your child to try to guide them to being on track.
Some of the great activity ideas include:

• Songs to Sing
• Sign Language
• Games to Play
• Books to Read

I love how on pg. 130 Kathryn writes," Don't be the boss, but the assistant in this activity."
Sometimes as a mom it's hard to take a step back, and just let him learn the process of playing with a certain toy or game. I'm quick to instruct or tell him the right way, instead of letting him find it naturally through trial and error.

There are many different topics addressed, but most of the speech sections were what interested me the most, since our little guy is learning. I want to do everything I can to direct him the best way possible.

Just a few of the great nuggets I want to mention:

"When will my child be a better playmate?" 
My Baby Compass:answer~ "The way you treat your family and friends is what your child will imitate, not what you tell him to say or do" pg 26

Beck~ This is so true. It's as simple as "monkey see, monkey do" We sometimes forget our little ones are with us all the time and they will imitate what we do. Unfortunately the bad can sometimes stand out more to them!

My Baby Compass~ " Your child may not respond to you or another of his caregivers simply because he didn't initiate the conversation" pg 33

Beck~ I have found this to be true with so many children. The Booper was really frustrating my grandmother the other day, because he wouldn't respond to anything she said to him. Then later in our visit he runs up to her and started talking her leg off. He initiated the conversation, so he was willing to talk.

The last nugget I wanted to mention is one I've seen so many parents go to extremes on.
Time out is a well known form of discipline, but so many parents go too far by going too long.
My Baby Compass pg 36 ~ The appropriate amount of time is one minute for each year in age.

There are so many great suggestions and "tools" to add to your parenting tool box. If you are worried that your child might have a delay or be struggling, and just need some new ideas. I highly recommend this book, "My Baby Compass". I know I will be putting several of the things I've learned from this book into play in my parenting style with the Booper.  If you are interested in finding out if your child is on track, and would like to purchase one book or the whole series visit My Baby Compass

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