The Importance of Being There: The Benefits of a Stay-At-Home Parent

by Isabelle Fox

Fox's main purpose in tackling this highly controversial subject is to offer practical advice to parents who are deciding who will care for their very young children. She offers new evidence about the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0812094905
• ISBN13: 9780812094909
• Release Date: January 1996
• Publisher: Barron's Educational Series
• Length: 210 Pages
• Weight: 0.64 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.2" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Super parenting help and support.

Great book with solid references for parents raising their own children! Very positive, motivational book for mothers chosing the best career in their life-raising their own children.

Great book on the benefits of staying home with your kids

The book go on saying how important for a child to have a constistant caregiver. Not only that but how important it is for parents to spend time with their kids.

The TRUTH about "quality time"

Thank you, Dr. Fox, for finally being courageous enough to expose the myth of "quality time." For so long, researchers and physicians have known that attachment parenting is the ideal situation for infants and children, but, haven't disseminated this information in the mainstream. Dr. Fox recognizes the reality that for some parents, e.g. single parents or the working poor, working is a necessity. But for many millions of parents, generally mothers, working provides an opportunity for intellectual stimulation, career growth, or to afford the luxury of a lifestyle maintained previous to having children. Dr. Fox encourages parents to understand the value of investing in our children (shouldn't this outweigh the value of investing in a career while our children are young?) and offers many valuable tips on how to financially manage with only one income. Furthermore, she offers extensive research on the ramifcations of inconsistent childcare and insecure bonding with parents. The studies on what happens to our kids when we don't give them our time are quite clear and it isn't positive. Thank you, Dr. Fox, for speaking up.

Puts the focus where it belongs; on true needs of children

The author demonstrates the process of bonding that occurs between mother and child during the first year and how this affects future well-being. Author explains the necessity for security of bonding between child and one trusted person; not just any person, the parent. Author shows the vital, major difference between parental care and care by other loving adults. Especially convincing: even the "best" day-care centers present children with an ever-changing array of caregivers, preventing the most important task of a child; developing trust and bonding. Details the damage done by "caregiver roulette." Author explains how bonding is the most important aspect of early childhood development, not intellectual stimulation. However, early bonding improves future learning in school. The only weakness of this book is that the author focuses mostly on the impact of non-parental care for babies and toddlers with little emphasis on the ramifications for older children and teenagers. The reader will be convinced that caring for one's own child is the most important career a mother or father can pursue, and that there is no comparable substitute.