Secrets of the Baby Whisperer for Toddlers

I usually scoff at books that are rewritten for a niche market. It starts with a general title like Healthy Eating, for example. Then the author or publisher (I really don't know which) decides they want to make more money, so they publish the same content with a few different stories and title it Healthy Eating for Women. And the cycle continues until you end up with books titled Healthy Eating for Centenarians and Healthy Eating for Baseball Fanatics.


That being said Secrets of the Baby Whisperer for Toddlers has mostly new content, even though the author's philosophy is consistent with her first book. I haven't scoffed at toddler books (yet) because I feel like I recently entered a whole new arena of parenting. We've somewhat figured out how to help Caleb eat and sleep well. Now I need to figure out what to do when his will and my will don't match.


Hogg's book has some helpful tips and common sense parenting skills if you're interested in raising civilized children. While I hope my children will be civilized, that's not my whole goal as a parent, so this won't be my only resource for parenting strategies and skills.


A few highlights (Some are helpful; some are just to show Hogg's opinions):

• Your expectations may change, depending on your child's personality.
• Praise only for a job well done. (advice also given in Grace Based Parenting.)
• The importance of rituals and routines. Hogg quotes Barbara Biziou: "By using rituals, we help ourselves and our children make better sense of the world. They begin to regard even the mundane as sacred moments of connection and togetherness" (pg. 68).
• Rituals/routines can be as simple as washing hands before eating.
• Prime time for potty training (in Hogg's opinion) is 18 months-2 years.
• Practice skills at home before expecting your child to perform/behave in public.
• Discipline (Hogg offers 12 points for "conscious" discipline. Some seem standard--know your boundaries, model, say no, praise good behavior, etc. Some helpful points for me: plan ahead, offer closed-end choices, pick your battles.)
• Offer closed-ended choices. For example, instead of asking, "Are you ready for your bath now?" which really doesn't give your toddler any choice, ask, "Would you like to use the red washcloth or the blue washcloth?"
• While one of Hogg's points said "Don't rely on corporal punishment" (spanking, flicking hands, hitting, etc.), she actually said never use it.

After reading baby books and now a few toddler books, I'd say Hogg's Baby Whisperer philosophy is rather moderate in approach. She's big on respecting children's feelings and wishes, but she's also big on teaching children to respect the world around them.