summary ofCribsheetBook by Emily Oster, PhD

first KEY POINT

Don't let others' advice affect your unique parenting experience

So, you became a parent, and now you share a house with a new neighbor whom you already love more than life itself. This person will buy a car, find a job and suffer from first love one day. But before that happens, you have so many things to deal with. Just a thought makes you shiver: how will your life change now? And how to make the right choices in raising a child?The first desire is to ask for advice from other experienced mothers. However, do not perceive someone else's experience as universal. What works in one family may not work in yours. Bestselling author, Emily Oster, recalled her epiphany moment: swaddling. There are hundreds of tips on the Internet on how to wean your baby off the swaddle properly. But her son Finn only grunted in surprise when Oster put him to bed without a swaddle due to the heat, and he fell asleep peacefully. There were no special tricks, and the child was calm (although it was a painful experience for the eldest daughter, Penelope).

This situation taught Oster two things:• In parenting, you have less control than you think.
• You may not have control, but there is always a choice.Sometimes society puts a lot of pressure on parents, especially those without experience. Each adviser knows better what to do: “If you don't breastfeed, the child will develop slowly,” “My daughter was already walking at that age!” The purpose of the summary is to reassure parents that they are doing everything right and encourage them to make decisions in favor of their families. Instead of ready-made solutions, you will find the necessary data, based on which you will make decisions yourself. In addition, Oster did scientific research, so you can turn to statistics if you find it challenging to make a choice.