Product Description

Drawing on the wealth of material on the "Mumsnet" website, this guide presents the collected wisdom of real parents who have been through it all and survived to pass on their experience to others. Each chapter contains a distillation of the best postings submitted by thousands of the site's users, punctuated by fact boxes, tips and summaries of what parents have to say.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #135565 in Books
• Published on: 2003-03-30
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

About the Author
Justine Roberts is a football writer for the Daily Telegraph and former TV producer with two-year old twins. Carrie Longton is a former TV producer with two children under two. They met at ante-natal class and founded the Mumsnet website in June 2000.

Customer Reviews

Top tips from real experts
I've bought a lot of parenting books in my time and some of them have actually been of some use.

But this is one of the few that combines tips from "ordinary" parents (mostly, but not all mothers) with some "expert" corroboration. Having been in many of the situations described in the book as a first time mum, I know the suggestions and advice it contains are pragmatic and have often worked for me.

The book is based on a successful and widely admired website which has a discussion forum for mums to exchange views on many issues including parenting. It is so wide-ranging and busy that sometimes really excellent advice gets "buried" even when it is a few weeks old. It was great to revisit some good tips on babycare that I had seen before but had forgotten about. And even in this day and age not everyone has internet access (especially at 3am when your baby is teething and commanding all your attention).

I'd really recommend this book in its own right (how many other "non-academic" parenting books have the guts to put in a bibliography of other similar publications?) and as an introduction to the website.

Just like talking to your friends
This is such a practical and reassuring book! The Mumsnet website prides itself on offering real life support and advice - often at three in the morning - and this book is a distillation of some of the message board contributions made by ordinary mothers from all over the World.

The book includes the occasional 'expert' tip and does not pretend to give accurate medical advice, but there is a wealth of 'Well I tried this and it worked for me..' anecdotal stuff that really shows a cross-section of experience. There's nothing at least one mumsnet member has not experienced - and they're all willing to share it with us! I felt like a better, less lonely mother after reading it. So will you.

Just like chatting with your mates
We all had mums and we were all once babies - but when you're sitting on an ice-pack with a tiny child in your arms and a husband who's looking kindly but terrified - you feel as though no-one's ever done this before and you are ON YOUR OWN...

Well, not any more. This book has been compiled from contributions to the Mumsnet.com website and is packed with open, honest and practical real-life experiences from hundreds of mums out there. There are a few tips from 'experts' and it does not pretend to give professional medical advice, so it really is like talking with other mothers - but with time to concentrate on what they're saying! After reading this book, you feel as though you may just be quite a good parent after all...and still be a human being.