Don't let this book's title fool you. While Stephanie Woo is
the mother of twins-hence, her title, Raising Your Twins-this
book applies to raising any children, whether one or multiple.
Her real life parenting tips as well as advice on how to
maintain your relationship with your spouse (her husband even
chimes in with his own section on this topic) will give you
more than enough advice to keep you busy being a better
parent, part of which includes learning how not to be busy by
finding some time for yourself after you teach your children
how to entertain themselves.
Throughout the book, Stephanie uses her twin daughters, Brooke
and Mackenzie, as her primary examples, including numerous
photos of them demonstrating their skills at eating, their
playing with mobiles, and how she set up play and nap areas
for them. But Raising Your Twins is more than one mother's
parenting experiences. Stephanie comes from a family of
childcare educators. Her mother is a teacher of the Montessori
method, who operates five Montessori schools in Taiwan, and
Stephanie is herself AMI Montessori certified, so Stephanie
includes a lot of Montessori tips as well as her mother's own
tips about raising children.
What really amazed me about Raising Your Twins is the common
sense, outside of the box, and progressive thinking that
Stephanie displays in discussing how to raise her twins,
especially in terms of teaching them how to entertain
themselves.
Stephanie divides the book into various chapters, including:
Eating, Sleeping, Movement, and Keeping Babies Self-Occupied,
and then these chapters are divided into sections according to
the ages or development stages of children, such as 0-3
months, 3-10 months, or 11+ months, depending on the topic.
This division is useful because it allows parents to
anticipate their child's next stage. As a bonus, Stephanie
includes a shopping list at the end of each chapter so parents
will know what they will need to buy as their children get
older, covering the ages from birth to three years old.
All of the advice in this book is proven and tested. Stephanie
herself attests that "I experienced extraordinary results. My
girls started sleeping twelve hours a night by ten weeks old.
They are and have always been completely unafraid of water.
They were drinking out of a regular glass cup at eight months
and could eat entire meals by themselves by twelve months."
The aspect of Raising Your Twins that I found most remarkable
was its focus on helping children to become self-sufficient.
Stephanie points out that such self-sufficiency is the purpose
of the Montessori method, saying, "If we wanted to answer the
question, 'What Is Montessori?' in a single phrase, we might
look to the experience of Dr. Maria Montessori herself. One
day, as she was working with children, a child said to her,
'Help Me Do It Myself.' THAT is Montessori. A Montessori child
isn't just given fish; he is taught to fish." Stephanie goes
on to explain that some parents might not want to teach their
children to eat at such a young age because they figure in
time that children will learn on their own, but Stephanie
states:
"Personally, I don't want to be spoon-feeding my children till
they are six years old. I had children so I could enjoy them,
not so I might become their slave! And with twins, the point
is even more pertinent because there are two children, not
just one! Consequently, the attitude in our household is one
that encourages independence in every possible way."
One other point about self-sufficiency I appreciated was
Stephanie's focus on teaching children to be self-occupied.
Such self-occupation can be achieved through simple methods
such as you, the parent, changing the mobile in the child's
room every fifteen minutes or so to keep your child
entertained and give you fifteen minutes to yourself.
Stephanie has also learned how important it is not to
interrupt children during their playtime or when they are
engaged in any independent activity.
While I don't have children myself, I have watched plenty of
friends raise their children and I have babysat numerous hours
so I can see how effective the advice and methods in this book
are and how easily they can be implemented if a parent is
willing to put in the time and be consistent. A little extra
time now will free up time for a parent in the long run. More
importantly, it will help your children to become happier,
less dependent, raise their self-confidence, and make them
interested in continual learning as they grow older.
Raising Your Twins is a groundbreaking childcare book. I hope
for the sake of all parents that Stephanie continues to write
more books as her daughters grow older. She's already blogging
about her daughters as they grow up, capturing their
development in words and photos on a regular basis.
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