Customer Reviews

The City Parent Handbook: The Complete Guide to the Ups and Downs and Ins and Outs of Raising Young Kids in the City

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As this book points out, being a parent in a major urban city offers tons of possibilities for your children. Not that there is anything wrong with the suburbs, but there is no need to feel like you have to rush out to move once you find out a baby is on the way. You and your child can have it all in the city.

The book deals with such wide ranging topics as space (which is almost always at a premium in urban meccas), safety, entertainment and education. I thought they had great ideas about how to best utilize your limited space, with respect to both minimizing "stuff" and storing what you do have. (An experienced parent might not need it, but sometimes it's nice to have permission not to buy toys and such like crazy.) While they did comment on ways to minimize your child's risk from strangers, the bulk of their safety passages dealt with commonplace concerns, like getting around in traffic with toddlers. The book overflowed with ideas about how to entertain your child and yourself, from ethnic areas to festivals to classes to rainy day projects. They also had a number of websites where the reader could obtain more information about classes, activities and festivals.

The information on education was comprehensive, touching on many aspects of private schools, public education and some options in between. I had the definite impression that the authors were more pro-private than public, which is fine, but that is something that is only available to more affluent readers. However, it's hard to argue with the flaws they point out for public schools (e.g., a lack of programs available for the gifted). Again, they provide many resources for parents to do their own research in addition to listing several notable public programs.

This was a great, but not exhaustive resource. Also, this isn't geared to doing things on the cheap (not that it's advertised as such, but many urban parents, including myself are always looking for ways to save). I would LOVE to see something like this for each major city, but this is a great jumping off point.

I found this book fascinating and helpful. They're terrific about how to go to museums, why not to feel guilty that you're not in a suburb (because urban kids spend more time with their parents, until older ages, b/d of supervision issues), how to deal with private school applications (including what to do in you're on a waiting list or don't get in anywhere, which no one else tells you), and just general good sense and good info. Their tone is not preachy or condescending. I found it extremely useful and plan to give it to all the new parents (or about-to-move-to-the-city parents) I know.

The City Parent Handbook: The Complete Guide To The Ups And Downs And Ins And Outs Of Raising Young Kids In The City by big city parents Kathy Bishop (Editorial Consultant, Meredith Publishing) and Julia Whitehead (president of the strategic and financial consulting firm Pearson Enterprises) is the first comprehensive and "reader friendly" parenting manual specifically focused on raising very young children as part of the urban family. Written to focus on the difficulties of raising children from infancy to kindergarten age, The City Parent Handbook deals with issues of keeping sane in small spaces, common city health hazards, safety issues, ways to relieve city stress, dealing with private or public city schools, and much more. Packed with useful and practical information, The City Parent Handbook is a superb baby shower gift, and a very handy wealth of suggestions, tips, tricks, and techniques.

I live in San Diego, a small town compared to NYC, and to my surprise found many, many tips in this book to be applicable. Julia and Kathy also offer tons of practical advice that applies to anyone having a baby who is conflicted by the messages she is bombarded with by corporate America - e.g., did you know you can do without a diaper changing station if you so desire? In short, this book is well worth the read!

Parents can never read enough books to help guide them along the difficult yet rewarding path which all parents travel. If you're having a difficult time solving a parenting dilemma and cannot find answers from family and friends...parenting books are a wonderful resource to turn to for expert advice and helpful problem-solving techniques.

One such resource for parents living in a city, is "The City Parent Handbook: The Complete Guide to the Ups and Downs and Ins and Outs of Raising Young Kids in the City," by Kathy Bishop and Julia Whitehead. This book is not only a wonderful resource for parents thinking about or currently living in the city, it's a "must-have" guide for not losing your city-parent cool! I never realized how much there is to think about when living in a city with children! Just a few factors covered in this book that city parents need to consider: childcare, home & neighborhood, schools, sports, and health issues...these factors are much different when living in a city. This book does a great job explaining everything for city parents, even when you think you knew it all.

MyParenTime.com highly recommends this book -- there is so much information! Besides all the helpful advice, parents will find numerous tips & techniques, mistakes not to make, and so much more! Parents will probably find themselves referring back to it often. Have a great time living in the city with kids...from 2 parents who have already "been-there-done-that." :)

While this book has good information about how to handle various city parenting situations, (dangers of Lead, Taxis... etc), I was stunned how the assumption seems to be that you want to pawn your kids off on the nearest nanny/school/camp ASAP.