The stakes are high....

One of the major perils we now face is the plethora of parenting books available to terrified and outmatched new parents (like us). In what must be a 3 gazillion dollar baby-industrial complex, there are all sorts of books on how to raise a child (leave aside the fact that I can say with certainty that there is an unbroken string of successful parenting from Connor's grandparents all the way back to the primordial ooze).

Still, we are doing our homework and plowing though some baby books. Some are definitely helpful, while others I am struggling to see the benefit. The stakes are so high they say! Do this right or Connor will be damaged for life! Think I am kidding? Below is a passage from the intro to one of the books. In case you can't make it out, it reads "Warning: If your child does not learn to sleep well, he may become an incurable adult insomniac, chronically disabled from sleepiness and dependent on sleeping pills". Okay then...



While this may be true, I question the wisdom of putting this in the introduction to a thick, ominous book on parenting. We are freaked out enough, thank you very much, and this pronouncement is so over the top it is almost humorous. I can think of some other warnings to put at the front of these books: "Warning: you are a total moron and despite everything you do your kid may grow up to be a jerk," or "Caution: you did not grow up in a hunter-gatherer tribe fighting for survival in the stone age. So most likely you know nothing about babies and therefore yours will grow up to be Charles Manson. Good job Dad."