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Rather than a book that helps you care for your baby, "Baby Hearts: A Guide to Giving Your Child an Emotional Head Start" (Bantam, $14 paper) is designed to help you care ABOUT your baby.
Backed by exhaustive research, Linda Acredolo and Susan Goodwyn ("Baby Minds," "Baby Signs") offer fine advice on how to act on feelings coming from someone who can't articulate them.
"The vast majority of parents say they love their children," the authors write. "However, not all parents know how to communicate their love to the very individuals most in need of being convinced-their children during the first three years of their lives."
Kids will be better ready for life if parents heed the advice doled out in "Baby Hearts," as chapters cover making babies and toddlers feel loved, nurtured and secure; reading feelings ranging from anxiousness to moodiness; dealing with shyness, fear, tantrums, aggression; teaching kids to interact positively with others, and much more.
Why you do what you can to prepare them: "Making the decision to have A child - it's momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body."
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(c) 2005, Chicago Tribune. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service.
