[.ca] Secrets of the Baby Whisperer for Toddlers (ISBN 0345440803)

From Amazon.com:
Imagine a cheeky, less starchy Mary Poppins in the trenches with you and your toddler. British trained nurse and childcare consultant Tracy Hogg draws upon the key ideas in her bestselling, Secrets of the Baby Whisperer and applies them to those magical and challenging years between infancy and preschool. Hogg offers parents of toddlers clear theory and techniques described in a supportive, crisp tone, often addressing parents as "luv" or "ducky." Before trying any techniques, she urges parents to "love the toddler you have" by understanding his or her unique temperament, gifts, and special needs. That said, Hogg introduces specific tools for engaging and managing toddlers. These include "H.E.L.P." (hold back, explain, limit, praise); "R & R" (routines and rituals to create structure and celebration), and "behavior rehearsals" (a plan to prepare toddlers for new experiences). Other chapters focus on "respectful intervention" to avoid acting out and plans to protect parents' private time. By seasoning her advice with anecdotes, sidebars, quizzes, and abundant good humor, Hogg offers companionship and common sense for parents during the toddler years. --Barbara Mackoff

Not as Good as the Original:
This book is moderately helpful, but not as good as Hogg and Blau's original "Secrets of the Baby Whisperer." While that book was an invaluable asset and demonstrated Hogg's true expertise with babies, this one seems to emulate its predecessor instead of standing on its own. I found the first one much more helpful and practical than "What to Expect the First Year," but now I find "What to Expect the Toddler Years" to be more informative than this toddler book. If you're as big a fan of the first book as I was, you probably are tempted to go right out and buy this one as soon as your baby becomes a toddler. I would encourage you to read it to benefit from some of the more helpful parts (especially good, in my opinion, were the ritual and routine recommendations), but unfortunately, it doesn't pass the test to be your go-to guide to your toddler.

Great Principles for confident parenting:
I had read the first book and found it pretty helpful. But this book really helped me gain confidence in knowing how to guide and parent my toddler. I borrowed it from the library but found it so good, I had to buy my own copy for reference. There is so much great stuff in there for every aspects of a Toddler's life. In comparison to the toddler stage, looking back at the infant stage of my child--there were a different set of challenges. This book was written with tremendous understanding of what parents of toddlers(especially first time parents) face! With Toddlers, you can't have a simple "how to" manual, you need principles to guide you. And this is exactly what Tracy does! She's a guide. I do not find her condescending at all! In fact, I find her principles very directive and liberating. She gives very reasonable and wise principles for parenting your toddler. It's not all general either. However, she does speak to a certain kind of parent; it seems like those who choose attachment parenting aren't crazy about her. She speaks to the parent that does not necessarily want their child to be "attached" per se, but wants a child to be secure and confidently loved nonetheless. So if you're looking for good guidlines for confident parenting, this is a great place to start. She's not going to preach about inflexible methodology but rather flexible principles where you can apply them to everyday challenges and situations with your toddler! If this is the kind of parenting you want, then this is your book!

Not as good as the first:
My "What to expect the 1st Year" was way more helpful than this one.I found the 'baby whisperer' to be pretty good, but this one was of no help at all. Her suggestions are unrealistic and most would never fit in with a 'real moms' everyday life... I also found her British way of wording really annoying and hard to read. She seems self righteous with this one, implying that if moms would have read her 'first book' they would not be having these kinds of problems! Definitely wouldn't recommend it.

Condescending:
If you're into schedules, this book is for you. I found it useless. Her attitudes towards toddler nursing is deplorable. What are her credentials? A "baby whisperer"? I guess I just don't get it. I didn't read the first book and I'm glad. I read a more attachment parenting friendly book and found its contents much more my style.

Baby Whisperer for Toddlers:
I loved this book! I found this extremely helpful and practical. You need to take from it and apply it to your own individual child but that is the key to using any parenting book. I actually read this one cover to cover because it was interesting and easy to read.