Fashionable Media Review Policy: The featured product for this review was provided to me, at no cost, by the manufacturer or representing PR agency for the sole purpose of product testing. Opinions expressed are my own and are not influenced by monetary compensation.
Recently, I had the opportunity to review Redbook’s Mom’s Survival Guide: Save Time, Money, and Your Sanity. It was different than I expected. Not that I can put my expectations into words or anything, it just wasn’t what I expected that’s all. It reminded me of a What to Expect When You are Expecting book, but for older children. I wouldn’t consider it a survival guide, but a reference book.
Redbook’s Survival Guide is designed in such a way that you can quickly reference a problem or question by flipping through the red tabbed pages to find what they say about a particular issue or problem. Say for instance your child is experiencing headaches, you could then flip the pages to health and find headaches listed. Or if you are facing a behaviour issue, flip to behaviour and scan through the chapter to see if you can find tips on how your child is behaving.
To be honest, I didn’t find the book particularly helpful. However, I did learn a couple of new things. The first, I always thought the hottest summer hours were between 10:00am-2:00pm, but this book extends the hours to 4:00pm. Then I learned that many children experience headaches. I didn’t know that, nor did my doctor’s office tell me this when we questioned them about the headaches our children have experienced, which disappointed me. I also learned a few more reasons that our children could be experiencing headaches and will now watch for those things.
Overall, many of the things in this book are pretty much common sense or covered in most other parenting books I’ve read. I think it would be a more of a resource for first-time parents or those parents just starting to buy their parenting books.
Redbook’s Mom’s Survival Guide retails for $16.95 and may be purchased at any major bookstore.
