A new book has just been published outlining everything you need to know about looking after babies between the ages of 0 and 3 years.
Written from the perspective of a young father, Cyril Jost, “L’essentiel sur les bébés” presents a simple and precise overview of key topics such as breastfeeding, nutrition, sleep, nappy training, and development. With the support of more than 80 original infographs and amusing illustrations by another local Dad, Pierre Wazem, the book attempts to offer “the facts” on babies in a truly non-partisan way, which neither lectures nor pre-judges parents for the choices they make.
Asked why he decided to write this book now, Cyril told knowitall.ch “As a former journalist, now working for a big publishing firm in Lausanne, I have a penchant for “facts” and wrote my first book on economics in 2007. With the arrival of my 2 daughters, now aged 2 and 4, I looked high and low in the bookstores for an informative book on babies, without all the “tips", “suggestions" and sometimes biased recommendations you get when you become a parent. However, despite the huge number of books on this subject, nothing satisfied my need for precise, factual information.”
He continued, “As a parent, who was born and grew up in Japan, it soon became clear to me that there was no right or wrong way about bringing up babies. Living in an international region, it is evident that parents from different cultures often have a different approach to the same problem – but they can’t all be wrong! I wanted to understand the different cultural approaches to raising children, and see how baby care has evolved over the generations in different countries, so that I could make the best choices for me, and my family.”
So last year, Cyril set about writing his own guide, which he describes as “a modern book on babies, written by a dad, illustrated by a dad, but for moms and dads.”
“This book is not just for moms (like many of these kinds of books used to be written), and not just for dads either (because that would be too restrictive),” he insists. “I think mothers and fathers should be free to decide together on who does what. A book should totally refrain from handing out roles to one or the other.”
The result is a beautifully illustrated, 160-page soft-back book full of useful facts and amusing anecdotes that highlight the differences between the various cultural approaches to raising children, especially in France, Switzerland and Belgium. By focusing on facts rather than advice, the book provides an invaluable resource to parents who are free to make their own informed choices, in full knowledge of the consequences of their actions. Priced at just Fr. 19.-, the book can be purchased at all major bookstores, from 25 April, 2014.
L’éssentiel sur les bébés
Editions Loisirs et Pédagogie
www.editionslep.ch
Fr. 19.-
Available from all major booksellers.
