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I was able to read this book in about 45 minutes, which is a plus for this busy mom. The information is presented in a very straightforward manner. There are helpful tips for all types of different bedtime battles, from the child who gets out of bed a million times to the child who refuses to turn off the tv to get in bed.
This book seems to be geared more towards school age children, but nevertheless, it still gave us suggestions that have benefitted my 3 year old, and his tired parents. I can't say that reading the book solved all our problems, but I will say it gave me some great ideas, especially reward and sleep pattern charts.
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Introduction
Chapter 1-Health & Safety
Medical care, Childproofing, Health & hygiene routines, Seasonal health & safety
Chapter 2-Everyday routines
Feeding & eating, Don't eat that, Sleeping, Clothing & dressing concerns, Bathing, groomnig, & toileting routines, Discipline
Chapter 3-Playtime fun and Learning
Reading & language skills, Social skills, Physicial development, Teaching math and science, The media, Early education
Chapter 4-Travel and everyday Outings
Car and public transportation travel, Everyday outings, Shopping Trips, Vacations away from home
Chapter 5-Special Events
Holidays, Birthday Parites, Making memories, Upsets and changes
Chapter 6-Relationships
Siblings & only children, Spouses, Extended Family, Child Care Providers
Great websites included
The book is very easy to read and understand. Since the topics are prsented in lists, it is very brief and helpful for a quick reference.
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Both novels have relied on some pretty far-fetched coincidences to hurl Reacher into the plot, but this is fiction, and the suspension of belief is something required in this type of novel.
With all that said, Child still is a writer to reckon with. This book is entertaining and has a satisfying, if somewhat rushed, resolution.
Definitely worth reading, though.
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Here we find Reacher getting himself into trouble once again by being in the wrong place at the wrong time and winding up smack in the middle of the hunt for a serial killer. There are many plot twists and some great false foreshadowing. The end caught me completely by surprise. Child fooled me and had me going down the wrong path of who the killer really was.
The huge downturn is that the plot and set up is so farfetched and so unbelievable that it really ruined my suspension of disbelief. Granted, this sounds a little odd since most novels of this genre, including previous books in this series, have some pretty outlandish unbelievable plots. However, here Child paints an FBI that takes corruption to a level that only the most hard core conspiracy theorist could ever swallow. I think police organizations in this country,including the FBI are morally bankrupt and corrupt -- but Child goes beyond that to fantasy. What's worse is that even if the FBI is as corrupt as what they are painted to be in the novel -- the motive of the FBI officers in this case make no sense whatsoever. In short, the setup is absurd on the grounds of logic, if nothing else. He could have written a better novel had he not take such an approach.
Thus, yes I enjoyed the book -- but at the same time am irritated by it and give it poor rating.
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There is much to admire in Lee's critique of Americans' blind march to college. However, some of her arguments seem less than convincing. First, her idea that high school graduates should take time off may result in protracted drifting. These young people, more than ever, may need structure and guidance found in some college environments. Second, the "character-building" activities Lee discusses require a certain emotional maturity, the very thing these young people lack, which is why they're not ready for college in the first place. I'm not sure very many people have the tools to work at an orphanage or a reservation right out of high school. Third, only a small percentage of people have the brilliance to be computer wizards and entrepeneurs. Therefore, I'm not sure these glorious careers can be obtained by a significant portion of the population. Fourth, when Lee wrote this book the economy was booming. She cited Cisco hiring people with two-year certificates at 60 and 70K a year. Since the book's publishing, the stock market has become sluggish and Cisco is probably not hiring as robustly as it did when Lee was writing. Finally, I'm not sure Lee's experience with her son, who by all accounts was a spoiled rich baby, makes sufficient basis for generalizing about the virtues of going to college. Whatever refutations Lee makes about going to college, the fact remains that in this country there is a huge stigma attached to those who don't have a college degree and all too few of us can, like John Cheever or Bill Gates, transcend that stigma.
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Because a lot of the information is anecdotal in nature, however, your mileage could vary considerably from the people they spoke to. I have visited multiple cities they list in the book and found that beauty was very much in the eye of the beholder. This book is a worthwhile resource but don't just jump in and assume that their recommendation will mean you would enjoy living there.
If you are considering moving, I would suggest purchasing both this book and the Places Rated Almanac to draw up a short list of candidates. Then go there and do as many things as possible that you would if you lived in that city. Go to a movie, check out the local mall, look at a few houses, etc. Get an idea of what it's like to be there on a daily basis. You won't get that from this book or any other but Fabulous Places just might help you find a place to start looking.
For many years many countries have gathered information and statistics about their children, but mostly in the area of basic needs and survival. This book and the international project is going beyond and looking at indicators to measure and monitor the well-being of our children. A task not easy to come about, but important, because it will provide important information, knowledge, tools for better planning and make monitoring more possible, when you have hard facts to compare with.
This book has nine chapters: Rationale for measuring child well- being, existing efforts around the world, basic guidelines, five new domains, indicators, how to measure, the community level, making of policy and summary with an agenda for future efforts in this field.
The message of the book is the importance of measurements of child well-being finding indicators that you will be able to monitor over time both improvements and change. The new approach can be described as looking at well-being instead of just survival, from negative aspects to positive aspects of child life, from well-becoming to well-being and from traditonal to new domains. The five 'new' domains the authors propose are in children's activities, children's economic resources and contribution, civic life skills, personal life skills, and safety and physical status with 49 indicators.
This is an easy-to-read book with good information for professionals trying to find ways to measure and monitor well-being in today's children and adolescents.
Professor Joav Merrick, MD
Medical director, Division for Mental Retardation, Box 1260, IL-91012 Jerusalem, Israel. E-mail: jmerrick@aquanet.co.il