The Mother of All Toddler Books: An All-Canadian Guide to Your Child's Second and Third Years

While The Mother of All Toddler Books provides excellent information on all of the important topics that parents of toddlers need to know about, like discipline, health, nutrition, sleep, and healthy development during the toddler years, I felt that this book's greatest strength was the chapter entitled "Fun and Games." The arts and crafts section of the chapter provides a detailed checklist of toddler-friendly craft materials (both homemade -- including recipes -- and tips on zeroing in on the best store-bought art materials for toddlers). You'll also find tips on planning art projects that are perfectly geared to toddlers (not too frustrating), suggestions on getting craft-related stains out of your toddler's clothes, and practical ideas about setting up craft activity centers in your home. The chapter also includes a number of suggestions for fun sensory play activities that you can try with your toddler (e.g., water play, sand play, snow play, modeling clay, cooking), along with music activities (including how to make your own musical instruments), dramatic play activities (dressup and puppet-making tips); fun excursions to plan; games that encourage your toddler to move his/her body; pre-math games to play with your toddler (sorting, matching, grouping, measuring); fun science games and activities (cause and effect toys, gardening); and activities like making your own books that encourage a love of reading. The chapter wraps up with a discussion of how you can get the best value for each dollar you spend at the toy store. That means buying durable toys, age-appropriate toys, toys that your child will be able to play with for many years, and toys that can be played with in more than one way. There are also some helpful (and money-saving) tips on cleaning and fixing toys that might otherwise end up in the trash, storing toys, and making your own toys, as well as a list of the best toys for toddlers.

A great sequel to the previous "Mother of All" Books. I have had the pleasure of hearing the author give a presentation recently and found her to be very knowledgeable, supportive and funny. I really appreciate the humorous, true anecdotes of many parents with toddlers throughout the book. This is the key comfort factor for me that grounds this book in reality...that I am not alone in sometimes being unsure of what to do and occasionally regretting what I chose to do. I am often doubting that I am a good enough mother compared to some of my friends and relatives. The warm, friendly tone of the author, a mother of 4 kids herself, is carried through her books and helps calm my anxiety. I also wish to highly recommend "The Pocket Parent" by two authors that are also knowledgeable, compassionate, "tell it like it is" mothers. This book addresses just four years of life...the challenging behavior issues of 2, 3, 4, and 5 year olds and offers hundreds of tips and true, short anecdotes on handling every annoying behavior you can think of. Both of these upbeat, well-written, quick-read reference books are designed to be read as you need them...each chapter complete on its own...both books equally helpful to moms and dads of toddlers.

A great sequel to the previous "Mother of All" Books. I have had the pleasure of hearing the author give a presentation and found her to be very knowledgeable, supportive and funny. I really appreciate the humorous, true anecdotes of many parents with toddlers throughout the book. This is the key comfort factor for me that grounds this book in reality..that I am not alone in sometimes being unsure of what to do and ocassionally regretting what I chose to do. The warm, friendly tone of the author, a mother of 4 kids herself, is carried through her books and adds to the comforting fact that she has "been there, done that" along with us. I also would like to recommend another book that focuses on behavior issues of 2, 3, 4, and 5 year olds that has helped my family. "The Pocket Parent" is written in the same friendly tone by 2 mothers, each with 3 children. It also includes many short annecdotes from the authors' personal lives as well as from other parents relating to the hundreds of bulleted tips called "sanity savers" on every annoying behavior you can think of. Both of these upbeat, quick-read reference books are worth having in your home library.

Ann Douglas' Mother of All books have guided me through my pregnancy, the baby years and helped me tremendously for the toddler years. I appreciate the humour and down to earth approach to topics... you can tell she's a mom too. By having the "moms in the trenches" advice, I didn't feel so alone in my child-rearing. Hey - the potty training portion of the book is really good - worth the prize of the book right there!

I have been eagerly awaiting the publication of this book and was lucky enough to get my hands on a copy yesterday. I immediately sat down and read it from cover to cover. My verdict? It's excellent! I already recommend Ann Douglas' earlier books, The Mother of All Pregnancy Books and The Mother of All Baby Books, to my clients. Now I have an excellent toddler book to recommend as well. Like the earlier books in the "Mother of All" series, The Mother of All Toddler Books is written with humour and yet is packed with all the need-to-know information: how to deal with everything from temper tantrums to food jags to toilet training. The chapter on behaviour management is packed with all kinds of innovative ideas for dealing with everything from biting to whining to screaming -- reason enough to buy the book.Canadian parents will appreciate the fact that the book is packed with Canadian resources: leads on Canadian parenting and child health web sites, a directory of Canadian health and parenting organizations, health and safety recommendations from Health Canada, the Canadian Paediatric Society, the Canadian Toy Testing Council, and so on. It's simply a first-rate book.