On Becoming Toddler Wise

Toddlerhood has some of the most crazy and amazing moments and as parents we need all the resources and truth we can get to love them well. This resource is great and a must for anyone with children. I have added it to my library to return to again and again with each baby facing this stage. It helps me help them and keeps our home running much smoother! Love it

I have to admit that I very nearly didn't buy this book. I found Babywise to be overly harsh, or at least it seemed to be at the time. I bought Toddlerwise, however, and was really impressed. First of all, let me say that my son is exactly two years old. With that in mind, he is at the middle to older end of the Toddlerwise spectrum. The thing is, as a parent, I was doing a lot of what Toddlerwise recommends before I bought the book. The book just filled in some BIG gaps for me. The first time I tried roomtime my son "read" to himself in his room for 20 minutes while I actually cleaned one of our bathrooms without once having to "yell" at him to stay away from the cleaning supplies. Also looking him in the eye when correcting him and expecting a response really helps us both. He is learning and I feel like I am actually getting through. I couldn't be more pleased!

I believe that only the parents who are afraid to BE parents are writing negative reviews of the Babywise series. Most parents in this country are worrying about being a best friend to their children, so they give in to every little whim they have (ever get annoyed by those screaming kids that run around like maniacs in a restaurant)!?! It's a parent's job to PARENT the child so that they can grow to understand and survive in the real world. Holding their hands EVERY SINGLE STEP OF THE WAY is only impairing them...as a teacher, my husband sees it every day. Ezzo is not suggesting that you abuse your child!!! He is trying to show you how to help your child become independent, happy, and well rounded! My daughter is NOT a robot. She has feelings and, believe me, she expresses them quite often--but she doesn't act like a little monster when she doesn't get her way, either, BECAUSE she knows the boundaries. That's what he is trying to get across here. Don't be afraid of the negative reviews of this series; believe the positive ones. Those of us who are raising our children this way are not brainwashed. We have just seen the incredible results.

We use the common sense methods in the author's book Baby Wise and Child Wise, and we are thrilled. Our children, now 3 and 7, are happy and healthy. They both slept through the night at very early ages, and have no problems putting themselves to sleep. Their regular schedules and knowledge of behavioral boundries makes them confident and secure. My 7 year old excels at school, loves piano and French and is well liked by classmates, teachers and other parents. Those who denounce these books seem to have more of a political opposition to the author than a genuine concern for raising children, and the extremist rhetoric makes that obvious. Take it from a parent who has actually read and used these principles--they work!

It seems to me, that most people with strong negative opinions about Ezzo's books have never given them a real try. The only people I know who don't like these concepts, haven't even ever used them. That's pretty ignorant. These books especially Toddlerwise are wonderful. No abusive, restrictive, or any of that garbage people say. If you actually read the entire books, you will see that the goal is quite the opposite. The goal is to be loving, kind, nurting while teaching your children skills that will set them up for success. It is not to have super control over them. Young children need firm boundaries for their safety as well as healthy development. Utimately they will have greater freedom. In other words, read the books before you trash them. They have helped a lot of helpless parents. Thanks!

With our first child, we used Babywise. It was a huge success. He was sleeping through the night, gaining more than sufficient weight, and now as a toddler understands his boundaries in the household. The first years of his life were not wasted on his parents always submitting to his schedule. Due to our great success, we were influenced by a friend's disgust with us using an "insensitive and uncaring method". So with our second, we used an alternative method she suggested. My wife nursed all night long for his first 6 months. He learned fast that our world was revolving around him. Thinking we had done something wrong after our long nights, we talked with the friend that suggested this alternative. Turns out she always had the same problems with her children. At 9 months and 6 months respectively, she tried cutting out the nightly feedings for her children cold turkey. She considered this 1-2 weeks of 1 hour crying to be expected and normal. I've now realized that it is much more caring of a parent to establish this routine from the beginning. We have now started our toddler on the wonderful Toddlerwise, and our 7 month old infant that was raised with the alternative method - is now a much happier baby having made the switch 2 weeks ago. Though these ideas in this book have been an incredible success, one must always use man's ideas in moderation. You are the parent, not the book.