The City Parent Handbook, by Kathy Bishop and Julia Whitehead
Review by Eric Miller
Did you know you can form a bond with a rat? While they’re well known among city dwellers as carriers of disease, and their extermination is the aim the aim of many poison potions, if you had the City Parent Handbook by Kathy Bishop and Julia Whitehead and were looking for a pet to entertain your youngster, you’d know a “fancy rat” was a good choice.
The unadvisability of rats as pets for a pet wouldn’t be the only "truism" this book might erase. To many parents out there, having a child in the city seems just as odd. It needn’t be--when you have this guide to the ups and downs, ins and outs, of raising young kids in the city.
I’ve met many city residents who decided to move to the suburbs when it was time to have children. “The city is no place to grow up!” they say. Ah, but it is. A city can be a safe place to raise a child ready for the challenges, knowledge, and cultural awareness needed for a changing world.
Of course there are challenges raising children, and the characteristics of those challenges are specific, and perhaps enhanced, for children being raised in the city.
Take education, for example. If city parents don’t move to the suburbs before they have kids, they often do so when it's time to send them to school. Indeed, there are good schools and bad schools, and property values can fluctuate depending on what school district a home is located in. This book recognizes the reality of some urban schools and gives parents practical advice on what to do to keep your child out of an overcrowded, dirty, and scary-looking classroom.
Of course in your case, school may be a far-off worry. Right now you could be thinking about what kind of stroller to buy. You may need more to think about stroller etiquette on the bus.
Topics in the book range from city safety to sanity in small spaces. From entertainment to profanity, from the playground to what to order in a Japanese restaurant, if you live in the city and have children, or don’t want to leave when you do, this book is a must-have guide for you.
You'll also learn:
- The specific features a city stroller must have
- Secrets to designing a kid's room for maximum fun in minimum space--without clutter
- Playground etiquette for when other city kids just won't play nice
- The critical things to do if your nanny isn't fluent in English
- The health risks of renovation--and how to avoid them
- Dumb mistakes that parents make when applying to the top schools
- The way to tell if your public school is a better choice than an expensive private school
- If you were thinking about getting a gerbil, think again. Rats are better.
