Raising a baby can be complex and stressful—and parents are overwhelmed with dense and inconsistent information from too many sources.
“What today’s new parents need is simple, quick, straightforward and solution-oriented advice to raise a healthy, happy baby and get control of their lives,” says Stephen Gross.
In The Simplest Baby Book in the World, Gross draws on his journey as a gay dad and experience as a leading brand creative executive for Disney and Mattel, to provide sought-after information from leading medical professionals in an “Instagrammable” format that will get you on a problem-solving path in under a minute, whether you need advice at 2 a.m. or 2 p.m. I had a chance to see a copy of the book, and it's great. Modern, upbeat, helpful, easy to digest, but still thorough and knowledgeable.
I had a chance to interview him to learn more.
Why did you write the book?
When we were expecting out first baby it was an unavoidable fact that I knew nothing and needed to learn everything about taking care of babies. Like most parents I wanted the very best for my kids, wanting them to grow up healthy, happy and well adjusted. I also had a healthy fear of sucking at being a parent.
So like any good type-A personality I set out to try and learn everything I could through books, podcasts, videos, blogs, and new-parent classes. I was also extremely blessed to have AMAZING people around me who basically mentored me, doctors, nurses, surrogates, a newborn care specialist, a sleep-training experts, nannies, friends, and family who shared so generously, they were truly incredible!
I kept wondering how anyone else did this! I couldn’t imagine people spending the time I did researching all the things one can experience with a new baby. Nor do most people have the benefit of being surrounded and tutored by a host of baby experts. I realized what I experienced and the support I was given was unique and special. These people had shared so much with me, making my experience far less stressful and SO MUCH more enjoyable. I wanted to find a way to share what I had learned with other new parents, and writing this book became my way.
I could take the knowledge and know-how and distill them down to their essentials creating a super simple single resource for all the baby basics. Even more I could use my expertise in advertising and graphic design to format the information in a way that is not only was informative but entertaining, one that was reflective of the way people actually consume information today.
Ultimately creating a guide that helps new parents ‘calm the chaos’, gain confidence and make their new-parent journey easier, less stressful, and far more enjoyable.
What do you think set it apart from other baby guides?
So much makes The Simplest Baby Book in the World different.
Essentially it simplifies baby advice, giving new parents the life-changing gift of simpler, easier, faster solutions to find confidence and spend more time enjoying parenthood. The leading baby parenting books are 600+ pages bibles that aren’t practical and many people don’t even read them. Simplest Baby makes learning the best, most-up-to-date advice EASY to grasp, so parents can find solutions they need at 2am or 2pm:
The book is unique in the way it combines several things.
Curating & Distilling
All the first-year baby basics distilled down to their essentials
A grab-and-do resource offering clear explanations and practical steps
Designed to put the best information at parents’ fingertips
Insta-Content
Created for today’s social media attention span
Solutions that parents can quickly and easily grasp
Presented in an entertaining way, with 700+ delightful and informative illustrations
The Best Collective Wisdom
Shares the most helpful experiences, quick tips and best practices
Shortcuts and up-to-date modern advice from the people who know best—pediatricians, nurses, lactation specialists, nannies, educators and of course, moms and dads themselves
Organized
The core essential nuggets of information are designed so that the key points are expressed
in a fresh, organized and entertaining way. The graphic approach makes the information abundantly clear at a glance. The unique visual makes it incredibly simple to follow and easy to understand.
What is the biggest thing you wish you’d known before you became a parent?
Thinking back to those days before having kids, let's see when was that, 10 years ago, oh wait it was just 3 years ago. But it feels like an eternity ago.
There are so many things to know before I became a parent, but the biggest isn’t so much a single thing. It's the way people talk about having a baby. I just wanted HONESTY! I wish people would be truthful about having babies and not dress it up in “It's the most amazing thing ever,” “There smile makes it all worthwhile” blah blah blah. Yes, it is full of amazingly things and magical moments but it is also full of amazingly painful things and shitty moments. I understand no one wants to be the bad guy—but you are not really helping if you don’t share both the good and the ugly truths. You can always ask if new parents want to hear about shitty stuff and leave it up to them to decide.
The whole truth and nothing but the truth,
6 things that every new parent should know before becoming a parent.
Sleep:
Sleep will never be the same—your sleep tank is going to be running on fumes. If you are like me and you had a hard time sleeping before kids, I feel your pain. It used to be that I would catch up on sleep during the weekend, forget that now, it's impossible. I’m one of those people who is a “bad zombie” meaning, I’m not nice to be around when I’m tried—so I am pretty much a joy to be around all the time.
Extra Activities:
Exploring the world traveling, dinner parties, concerts, events, trying new restaurants, and spontaneously doing anything, pretty much goes out the window. We have snuck out a few times here and there but it might be 5% of what we used to do. I miss it and you will, too.
Emotions:
This is a big one. No one told me that I was going to experience some crazy crazy—scary emotions. I say this hoping that everyone reading the following doesn't think me as an evil monster, but like I said—honesty. I love my kids dearly but at times they drive me over the edge. The first time this happen was with our baby daughter. She would cry and cry and cry unconsolably, even though she had been feed, changed, did not have a fever, was not teething, wasn’t tried, down through the check list I would go. But nothing I did was would make a difference.
Something about a baby’s crying—especially what I call “super crying,” the kind that peals paint off the walls makes me insane. I started to feel a tremendous tightening in my chest and I was become so angry—I felt that angry physical, I wanted to hit something and rant out host of profanity. I’m naturally a very positive, happy person but these were strange and intense feeling for me. Of course, I would never do anything to harm my babies but the emotions were real and undeniable. After getting control of myself and my little one, I spoke to my family and friends about it. Come to find out that they had all experience this too to greater or lesser degrees—BUT NO ONE TALKS ABOUT IT.
So, new parents, know that it is not odd, you are not a bad person for having these feeling and thoughts, it's normal.
It’s not about you
Before kids I pretty much did what I wanted, when I wanted and where I wanted. Now, with kids—it’s all about them. No matter what the topic, my babies are going to factored into every decisions. I had assumed that my focus would be about the kids before we had them but I didn’t realize was just how much of my focus would need to shift. I am really not the center of my universe any more.
Your home will be a mess
I actually have mostly managed to keep the mess caged in three rooms. The two kids’ bedrooms and the playroom. But the creep tries to escape everyday and invade everywhere. In their rooms it looks like someone robbed us everyday—there is stuff thrown everywhere. I straighten it up at night or at nap time but in two minutes it a wreck again. Laundry everywhere, not sure if it is just my kids but they just don’t like to keep their clothes on, we have to have several outfit changes throughout the day. Heaven forbid the clothing gets wet or they drop food on it, or it gets dirty. All I can say is embarrass the chaos.
Kids are expensive
I was actually told this one, but its worth repeating. Be prepared that kids cost—I feel like they endless need something. Amazon must love us—them and the grocery store. Once out of the baby phase, they become little eating machines. I end up going to the grocery store so much the people know me by name—its nuts. I don’t know where the put it all but food disappears so quick. Sadly, Target and the Trader Joes have become my go to places for a fun outings—and only if I can do it without the kids.
Its a wrap
All this being said, if you ask me today if I would I still have a babies the answer is—Yes! Having babies and starting a family is one of the best things I have ever done. Do miss my pre-baby life—Yes!, there were parts of it that were awesome. Thats why I feel the one thing that parents should know before having a baby is how much of a life changing event it will be.
How can parents wade through information to find out what works best for their family?
It's difficult, Honestly, it’s way too hard.
This is a big reason why I wrote The Simplest Baby Book in the World.
When we became pregnant with our first baby, I did what most people do, I read books, watched countless videos, went to classes, consulted Dr Google, etc. I waded through all the random information out there on caring for a babies, Honestly, it was incredibly overwhelming and terribly time consuming. I found the information out there was too dense, confusing and not written for today new parents.
So, I decided to speak to the ones who know best, doctors, nurses, nannies, caregiver, educators and parents directly. I collected the all the fundamentals of caring for a baby, what I call the “baby basics” then vetted them with my partners on the book, a pediatrician, a newborn care specialist, lactations expert and sleep trainer. I then took that information and distilled it down to its essentials, to simple, straightforward and solution-oriented advice on raising a healthy, happy baby.
More than that I share the everyday practical tips, tricks and work arounds that you don’t find in books, on websites, or blogs. Those nuggets of wisdom that come from having a conversation with a trusted friend. The simple little things that make life sooo much easier, In the book I call them Quick Tips and Daddy Hacks.
No comments:
Post a Comment