Colburn - Mamas big book of little lifesavers: 398 ways to save your time, money, and sanity

A s a parent, you very quickly become an expert in day-to-day family survivalbecause from the moment your beautiful baby is born, its sink or swim time. Its up to you to learn how to get through each day with your child reasonably taken care of and your own wits (and hopefully your sense of humor) reasonably intact. And so you do. You unravel the mystery of how to move your sleeping infant from car seat to crib, high-five yourself when you remember a spare outfit in the diaper bag, and call your mom friends to celebrate your first successful babysitter drop-off. You learn new essential skills such as how to salvage a favorite action figure from the toilet, negotiate a meeting without revealing the spit-up on your back, and keep your eyes open during date night. You are awesome!

Without even really realizing it, every day you are succeeding in dozens of small but significant ways. And along the way, you are filling your own personal parenting toolbox with what works for you: a trick here, a bribe there, a funny song that diffuses a battle, a seemingly insignificant technique that helps you navigate the hours from wake-up to bedtime over and over again. You, my friend, are becoming a parenting pro. But as youve certainly learned by now, even a pro can use a little backupespecially when new surprises crop up that you never saw coming.

The years from birth until your kids enter grade school is a wondrous, challenging, and eye-opening period, full of change, discoveries, and major peaks and valleys. This is arguably the time you log the most active and strenuous parenting hours of your careerand the time you need all the help you can get. Wouldnt it be a beautiful thing if other parents toolboxes were open for you to paw through and test out? Alas, its not always that easy. Moms and dads simply dont share their insider tricks with one another with any kind of consistency or frequency. There are several possible reasons for this: Theyre tired. They do what they do so unconsciously they might not even remember that it was once a hard-won technique. They are so enmeshed in their own quirky systems that they forget to ask what works for someone else.

Sure, everyone asks for advice on big things such as discipline and potty training and sleep. But what about the myriad little techniques that help smooth over the bulk of each day? If only you could be a fly on the wall at other parents houses, youd learn a lot of good stuff. And it sure would be a lot faster than figuring it all out on your own.

Let Mamas Big Book of Little Lifesavers do this for you. Inside this book youll find hundreds of ways to save time, money, and your sanityculled from my own experience and that of parents of young children from coast to coast. Parents of all types generously contributed their big and small secrets for success, in hopes of helping their compatriots: city parents, suburban parents, parents of multiples, single parents, and even a few grandparents. (Happily, this meant I learned a lot of new tricks, too.) Theres a reason for the old adage that it takes a village to raise a child. Parenting is a team sport. Dont try to figure everything out on your own. Instead, raise the white flag (a clean diaper will do nicely) and tap out your SOSother parents will always come to your rescue. And let this book be your handy personal flotation device to cling to. Hey, it just might buoy you up to face another day.

Good luck to you, fellow parent! I salute you.

Kerry

Mamas Big Book of Little Lifesavers is organized into three main sections: TIME-SAVERS, MONEY-SAVERS, and SANITY-SAVERS. The content within each section is loosely organized from babyhood through kinder-garten. The book is meant to dip in and out of, whenever you need a little pick-me-up or some fresh inspiration on navigating life with kids. (After all, who has time to read chapters?) Flip through it and see what catches your fancy or speaks to a challenge youre struggling with this week. Share the ideas with your friends. For times when you need help on a specific subjectsay, toothbrushing or airplane travelrefer to the that follows.

While youll find dozens of tips on these subjects and more throughout the book, heres a handy way to get started if youve got a specific challenge right now.

Tips: 3, 18, 30, 43, 95, 159, 263, 302, 311, 328

Tips: 29, 33, 36, 117, 133, 257, 259, 260, 270, 372

Tips: 85, 87, 153, 172, 181, 184, 188, 246, 256, 336

Tips: 1, 38, 52, 138, 156, 158, 160, 170, 192, 331

Tips: 55, 61, 220, 245, 302, 334, 335, 336, 359, 391

Tips: 12, 41, 54, 63, 68, 80, 81, 101, 108, 120, 358

Tips: 4, 7, 91, 105, 109, 121, 235, 236, 300, 304

Tips: 23, 31, 39, 44, 48, 78, 116, 177, 278, 349, 376

Tips: 21, 37, 46, 114, 163, 293, 297, 375

Tips: 24, 59, 118, 255, 301, 303, 346, 353, 398