Customer Reviews

The Gay Uncle's Guide to Parenting: Candid Counsel from the Depths of the Daycare Trenches

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

As the mother of two young children, i found brett berk's book to be an invaluable resource and an incredibly entertaining read. the advice in the book is clear, helpful, and extremely perceptive. berk has a tolerant, loving, but structured approach that calls out parents for the "bubble" that allows perfectly normal, decent people to lose all sense of self when they procreate (we've all been there! every parent, no matter how enlightened, will recognize him or herself, cringe, then laugh). berk gives specific, detailed, techniques to combat all kinds of parenting traps, and i found his advice not only more entertaining, but also consistently wiser and more useful than most books out there. on top of it all, berk is truly hilarious--the book reads like a memoir about his crazy family, long-suffering friends, and the many realistic, charming, challenging children in his life. i found the above review about how people without kids shouldn't write about how to raise kids patently absurd. just because you can pop them out, by no means do you have the "instinct" to raise them right--you may have the instinct to love them, but take my advice, read berk's book and do yourself, your friends, and especially your children, a BIG favor!

AS A MOTHER OF FOUR AND NOW A GRANDMOTHER, I MUST SAY, IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO LEARN SOMETHING NEW. THE "GAY UNCLE'S" BOOK HAS SOME WONDERFUL TIPS ON PARENTING THAT EVERYONE CAN USE, MOTHERS, FATHERS, GRANDPARENTS, TEACHERS, AND, YES, EVEN "GAY UNCLES"...THE ONLY THING THAT UPSETS ME, IS THAT THEY DIDN'T HAVE A BOOK LIKE THIS WHEN I WAS RAISING MY CHILDREN. THE ONLY THING WE HAD AVAILABLE AT THE TIME WAS DR. SPOCK, AND THAT ENDED UP IN THE TRASH.
CUDO'S MR. BERK. GREAT BOOK.

This is probably the best parenting book I've read. It's balanced, funny and, for me, serves as a good outside perspective in those moments where I'm about to pull my hair out or go down the dark tunnel of neurotic parenting. I found it helpful to hear from someone who has successfully worked hands-on with so many different children in a preschool. Somehow it felt more practical, less philosophical, and more grounded in reality than some of the books I've read that were written by doctors or parents of just one or two kids. Given that I'm doing this parenting thing for the first time and my two young girls are different from each other (Not much that worked with the first works with the second. I'm, thus, doing everything for the first time.) I found his experience very helpful. If you don't have time for the whole book, you could read just the little boxes on many of the pages and get the gist of the most important stuff.

This is useful and entertaining -- a change from most other parenting books. It's short, aimed at the major issues faced by parents of toddlers and preschoolers: e.g. eating, discipline, tantrums, adjusting to school/daycare, and getting "grownup time" to yourself.

Berk's suggestions are based on developmental psychology, experience as a day-care teacher, and an obviously deep respect, wonder, and love for kids. In addition, he challenges the parenting industry's tendency to make parents feel afraid, incompetent, and guilty.

Much of the book is (admittedly embroidered) anecdotes of common ineffective parenting strategies. These are hilarious, and reading them makes you feel more confident immediately, if only through schadenfreude. Then, like any good preschool teacher, Berk models "correct" (effective and age-appropriate) parenting behavior.

In case you were wondering, there really is no gay angle. He just happens to be gay and an uncle and as he says, straight Americans have ceded their authority in entertainment, interior design, and hair styling to gay men, so why not add childcare to the list?

Seriously, it is a marvelous book and I will be referring to it throughout my son's young childhood.

Love it!!!! Buying one for all my expectant and newborn friends..... this book tells it like it is and wakes you up from your "parent bubble" from an outside perspective.

Very funny, easy read, good stories! Love author's sense of humor- witty, smart. He has good advice and is really practical. I wish I had a gay uncle.

I don't really recommend this book. It's very funny and snarky and full of tough love, and while I do think that sometimes a no-BS approach is called for, I find that I related a lot more to his way of thinking when I was just a preschool teacher and much less so now that I'm a mother. When you only deal with a child for a few hours of the day, it's really easy to think you have all the answers. And I'll be darned if I'm going to take advice on what age I need to wean my child by or whether a boppy is indespensible baby gear or just a waste of space/money from a someone who doesn't have breasts.