This is a book that all parents should own! Whether your child is special needs or just special to you, By The Book allows you to leave home knowing that your precious angel will be taken care of in the best way possible. Kudos to Melissa Bishop & Karen Berg, for creating such a simple, but necessary book for parents and caregivers. – Highly Recommended
I knew CT was not like other children from about the time he was two years old. CT is now a teenager and has been diagnosed with an Autistic Spectrum Disorder (Asperger’s) and Bipolar for several years. In all of the years since his birth, CT has only had one babysitter and that only lasted for about a week. All of those other moments when I could not be there to care for him were spent with my family. Still, having a child with special needs can be tricky and I often felt a small amount of worry, just in case I forgot to remind someone of something.
If I would have had By the Book: How to Take Care of my Kids, I wouldn’t have had to worry as much. This book is so simple and yet incredibly amazing! By the Book is housed in a binder for ease of use and split up into a number of sections that allow you and the people caring for your children the comfort of knowing everything they need to know about your child is in a quick and easy location. It’s also worth mentioning that if you run out of pages you can order more from the By the Book website.
The book is split up into five sections including: The Basics, Caregiver Notes, Emergency, Medical, and Parents Only. A more detailed description of each section is listed below so you know what is included.
The Basics are all about the basics of your child, their routines, and your home. This is where you list your child’s allergies; mention what they do after school or where they might need to go, and how to handle things in your home. For example, if you don’t like your child touching the remote until after homework is done then you would put that in this section. If the remote is hidden from view you can also place where the remote can be found in this area, too!
Caregiver Notes has sections for the Sitter and the Nanny. The sitter notes are simple one page sheets that offer all the basics that a sitter would need. They will be able to see where you’re going, when you will return, a phone number where you can be reached, and what needs to be done (or not) while you are gone. The nanny section is called Nanny News and is set up to allow the Nanny to let you know all that happened in your child’s day. You receive a detailed account of what (and when) they ate at meal times and snacks, medicines that were dispensed, a naptime and bathroom movements schedule, how they felt, and where (if anywhere) they went for the day.
The third section is one of the most important sections. The Emergency section gives you access to Consent to Treat a Minor forms and also offers a wealth of emergency phone number spots and information about emergency plans in case something should go wrong.
The Medical section is broken up into Well Care and Sick Notes. The well care section has numbers to your children’s doctors, immunization records, and information on well visits in case your child’s sitter/nanny takes them to the doctor for you. Sick notes is all about your little ones’ illnesses. There are some one-sheets that give the basic information about the illness and how it’s being handled. There are also some Quick Look at Illnesses charts that give spots for dates an illness began and stopped, the symptoms and treatment provided, and comments about the illness.
The final section is just for Parents. This section includes names and numbers for any possible babysitters that you might have and Nanny Applications that will help you find the right nanny for your family.
If you need help with organizing everything, like I do, By the Book, will be an invaluable part of your life, raising your children. It’s so easy to forget to tell someone something and then fret the entire time you are away from the kids. However, with this book you don’t need to worry about that. You just sit down and fill everything out and the information is there whenever you (or they) need it.
By the Book is well worth the price you pay. The website even offers an e-book option, so if you do not want to pay for the hardcover you can purchase the less expensive e-book and print out the pages as needed. This book comes highly recommended.
Technorati Tags: By the Book, Caring for my Kids, Book, E-book, Review, Book Review, Karen Berg, Melissa Bishop, Nanny, Babysitter
Written by Ashtyn Evans – Visit Website
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Ashtyn is in her early 30s. She is a mother, writer, college student, and music lover. Ashtyn has had a successful career as a writer since 2003. She turned to blogging in 2005. Ashtyn attends Wright State where she is getting a degree in Psychology. She has extensive knowledge in SEO and Social Media Development.
