We've already given gay men the right to feed, dress, house and groom us. If you've turned into the uptight parent you dreaded - then turn to Uncle Brett for help.
When your toddler's bowel movements seem more important than world peace, mealtimes require strategic negotiations and you haven't had a night out in eight months, it's time to admit something needs changeWith over twenty years of experience working with young children but no kids of his own, Brett Berk uses his expert outsider's perspective to break moms and dads out of the Parenting Bubble, an alternate universe where under-table dining, Everest-like toy piles and hourly tantrums somehow seem "normal."Packed full of candid advice, handy checklists and hilarious stories of parents even crazier than you, The Gay Uncle's Guide reveals how consistency, patience and keeping your emotions in check are key to overcoming almost any parenting struggle - helping your kids gain the structure they need to develop and learn new skills and allowing you to be a person as well as a parent.
Berk, Brett. “The Gay Uncle’s Guide to Parenting: Candid Counsel from the Depth’s of the Daycare Trenches”, Three Rivers Press, 2008.
Queer Eye on Baby
Amos Lassen
Brett Burk, M.S., Ed. Advises us to pretend to be grown up and a model of self control when caring for baby. This is fine counsel but not always easy to do, He has had more than twenty years of experience of working with young children and gives us an outsider’s opinion and perspective on how to be great moms and dads. He is a gay uncle—one of those favorite relatives who is loved by kids and spoken about in whispers by adults. He tries to break old habits of parents and allows for a lot more freedom than we usually see,
Beck’s main advice to parents is to tell them not to forget their own humanity and not to worry that a child’s bowel movements are more important than world peace. There is a strategy to raising children and he presents it to us by holding our hand and walking us through it. He tells us of the alternative universe that is out there where “under-table dining, Everest-like toy piles and hourly tantrums seem ‘normal’”.
Beck gives a lot of advice here and it al reads as extremely useful but having no kids, I do not know how it works. The three things to remember, he says are consistency, patience and watching one’s emotions. By doing these things and parenting struggle can easily be overcome and kids will add structure to their lives and parents will be people.
One suggestion he makes is the formation of a sitter stable so that parents can get out of the house regularly, He also chides those that carry around too much stuff for the child. Knowing about tantrums is important and use them to end the problem rather than accelerate it. Then there is the E.A.R. method for talking to children and that involves explaining, adjusting and redirecting.
There is a lot of information here—most of which I shall never need but some of you may. It’s a god book to have around.
