When your toddler's bowel movements seem more important than world peace, mealtimes require strategic negotiations, and you haven't had a night out in eight months, it's time to admit something needs to change. Let Gay Uncle Brett Berk take you by the hand and walk you down the path to parental enlightenment. With over twenty years of experience working with young children, but no kids of his own, Brett uses his expert outsider's perspective to break moms and dads out of the Parenting Bubble, an alternate universe where under-table dining, Everest-like toy piles, and hourly tantrums somehow seem "normal." Packed full of candid advice, handy checklists, and hilarious stories of parents even crazier than you, The Gay Uncle's Guide to Parenting reveals how consistency, patience, and keeping your emotions in check are key to overcoming almost any parenting struggle, and will help your kids gain the structure they need to develop and learn new skills, and allow you to be a person as well as a parent. - Learn how to form a Sitter Stable, and get out of the house on a regular basis - Read about how Lifeboating--carting around too much stuff--limits your child's development, and how you can avoid it - Discover the magic of the EAR Method for talking to kids: Explain, Adjust, Redirect. (It really works!) - Uncover the truth behind tantrumming, and find out how you can put out the fire instead of fanning the flames

Author Biography

BRETT BERK, M.S., Ed., worked as a classroom teacher and a preschool director, and now acts as a research consultant to some of the world's biggest producers of kids' media, toys, and consumer products. He and his partner of eighteen years divide their time between New York City and a house in upstate New York.