The Berenstains' Baby Book

By Stan Berenstain and Jan Berenstain

Book Overview

Dust jacket has mild; book is in great shape This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0671496298
• ISBN13: 9780671496296
• Release Date: January 1984
• Publisher: Pocket Books
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A childhood classic...

Long before we gave any consideration to becoming parents, my brother and I discovered the Berenstains' Baby Book by Stan & Jan Berenstain. The descriptions and illustrations of parenting perils are hilarious. Therein lies a good chunk of practical information, but it goes down easy with their wry sense of humor. For example, those who feel they are butting heads with their children should read the section on the baby game "Boom-boom-botz!" Also memorable is the advise to parents that they should not get too excited if their children develop a taste for classical music, as they might just as easily shriek for joy upon hearing "Stick out your can, here comes the garbage man." A common thread throughout the chapters is that while parenting is a serious business, one should not take everything too seriously. Recommended for parents and offspring of all ages.

My New Favorite Gift for New and Expectant Parents

You'd have to live under a rock not to know of the Berenstain Bears books and TV shows. I've loved the Berenstain Bears ever since my teenagers were babies. I like the classic Bears (where Papa Bear is always a bumbling idiot) and the later Bears (where Brother and Sister always learn an important lesson). So when I recently learned that Stan and Jan Berenstain, creators of the Berenstain Bears, wrote some books for parents, I had to check one out! I read "The Berenstains' Baby Book: Advice for Parents from the Creators of the Berenstain Bears" (ISBN 0-671-49629-8), and it's hilarious! The Berenstains dispense advice on all kinds of subjects, including pregnancy, feeding, bedtime, first words, discipline, daycare, and much more. The version I read was published in 1983, so parts are dated, but it really doesn't matter. The humor in this book remains fresh! Here's some of the advice they offer: Pregnancy: While you've been working through the final stages of your blimp impersonation, solicitous friends and relatives have kept your phone ringing off the wall. Your mother-in-law is convinced that the whole process is taking much too long and that your delaying tactics are for the specific purpose of embarrassing her. Grandparents: The grandparent's first impulse upon seeing the grandchild is to pick him up. It matters not that the child is happy in the crib, coach, or playpen. Nor does it matter that it required a supreme effort of stamina, will and native cunning to get him to lie there quietly in the first place. Up he's snatched! Then, after a few minutes of knee dandling, Grandpa glances at his watch and discovers that he'd better hurry if he's going to pick up Grandma in time to make the first show. . . . So, putting Baby back where he found him, he bids you adieu, but you don't hear him over the mounting decibels from your infant. Potty-Training: Bladder Control consists of putting the tot on the pot every hour on the hour. It also entails sponging up a puddle every hour on the hour, roughly two minutes after you take the child off the pot. Stated in its simplest terms, your objective is to get the puddle in the pot. The solution is largely a matter of sticking rigidly to a schedule and constantly keeping a weather eye squinted for signs of precipitation. Undressing: At two and a half, your tot will probably try to remove socks by grabbing at the piggie end and pulling toward his face. He pulls and pulls. Nothing happens. Eventually his hand slips off and connects with his nose. After this, be sure to slip his socks off his heels for him when he's in the mood to undress himself. Then when he grabs a handful of sock and yanks, he'll get results: there will be a sock in his fist when it connects with his nose. There's even a brief fill-in-the-blank section at the end of the book with such humorous items as: Smashed first priceless heirloom at ___ months. First locked self in bathroom at ____ months. Brought home first dead animal at ___