In-depth, supportive information on navigating the complex road of parenting twins.
Twiniversity website founder Diaz delivers a comprehensive guide for parents of twins, from prenatal care through the first year of child development.
Humorous at times—"I always liked bathing the twins in the sink because it forced me to do the dishes. That's the sad truth"—and exhaustive in the details, the author provides meticulous lists, tips, do’s and don'ts, and compares brands of products, offering advice on what to purchase, including baby monitors, double breast-feeding pillows, Bumbo seats, jumperoos, exersaucers and baby swings. As a mother of fraternal twins, the author provides firsthand experience, and her desire is to ease parents into the oftentimes overwhelming moments of dual parenting. From health concerns during pregnancy, such as insomnia, morning sickness and how to handle bed rest, to an all-inclusive registry list to a debate over cloth diapers versus disposable, Diaz moves from one arena to the next with the efficiency of a drill sergeant, someone who's been there, done that and wants readers to learn from her trials and errors. Rounding out this how-to guide is excellent advice on how to breastfeed twins, when to start solid foods, finding time to sleep and setting schedules, bathing, swaddling, and how to navigate the ins and outs of car travel to and from the grocery store. Diaz even considers fellow airline travelers in her considerate and helpful hint of passing out earplugs to those seated around anyone with twins. “Nothing is off-limits here,” she writes, “as we will delve into some pretty murky waters.” For readers expecting a double pregnancy, Diaz's book should be the first purchase after that all-important moment when the doctor says, "Guess what?!"
In-depth, supportive information on navigating the complex road of parenting twins.Pub Date: Dec. 3, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-58333-515-4
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Avery
Review Posted Online: Oct. 4, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2013
An absorbing, wide-ranging story of humans’ relationship with the water.
A study of swimming as sport, survival method, basis for community, and route to physical and mental well-being.
For Bay Area writer Tsui (American Chinatown: A People's History of Five Neighborhoods, 2009), swimming is in her blood. As she recounts, her parents met in a Hong Kong swimming pool, and she often visited the beach as a child and competed on a swim team in high school. Midway through the engaging narrative, the author explains how she rejoined the team at age 40, just as her 6-year-old was signing up for the first time. Chronicling her interviews with scientists and swimmers alike, Tsui notes the many health benefits of swimming, some of which are mental. Swimmers often achieve the “flow” state and get their best ideas while in the water. Her travels took her from the California coast, where she dove for abalone and swam from Alcatraz back to San Francisco, to Tokyo, where she heard about the “samurai swimming” martial arts tradition. In Iceland, she met Guðlaugur Friðþórsson, a local celebrity who, in 1984, survived six hours in a winter sea after his fishing vessel capsized, earning him the nickname “the human seal.” Although humans are generally adapted to life on land, the author discovered that some have extra advantages in the water. The Bajau people of Indonesia, for instance, can do 10-minute free dives while hunting because their spleens are 50% larger than average. For most, though, it’s simply a matter of practice. Tsui discussed swimming with Dara Torres, who became the oldest Olympic swimmer at age 41, and swam with Kim Chambers, one of the few people to complete the daunting Oceans Seven marathon swim challenge. Drawing on personal experience, history, biology, and social science, the author conveys the appeal of “an unflinching giving-over to an element” and makes a convincing case for broader access to swimming education (372,000 people still drown annually).
An absorbing, wide-ranging story of humans’ relationship with the water.Pub Date: April 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-61620-786-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Algonquin
Review Posted Online: Jan. 4, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
An intriguing approach to identifying and relating to one’s emotions.
An analysis of our emotions and the skills required to understand them.
We all have emotions, but how many of us have the vocabulary to accurately describe our experiences or to understand how our emotions affect the way we act? In this guide to help readers with their emotions, Brackett, the founding director of Yale University’s Center for Emotional Intelligence, presents a five-step method he calls R.U.L.E.R.: We need to recognize our emotions, understand what has caused them, be able to label them with precise terms and descriptions, know how to safely and effectively express them, and be able to regulate them in productive ways. The author walks readers through each step and provides an intriguing tool to use to help identify a specific emotion. Brackett introduces a four-square grid called a Mood Meter, which allows one to define where an emotion falls based on pleasantness and energy. He also uses four colors for each quadrant: yellow for high pleasantness and high energy, red for low pleasantness and high energy, green for high pleasantness and low energy, and blue for low pleasantness and low energy. The idea is to identify where an emotion lies in this grid in order to put the R.U.L.E.R. method to good use. The author’s research is wide-ranging, and his interweaving of his personal story with the data helps make the book less academic and more accessible to general readers. It’s particularly useful for parents and teachers who want to help children learn to handle difficult emotions so that they can thrive rather than be overwhelmed by them. The author’s system will also find use in the workplace. “Emotions are the most powerful force inside the workplace—as they are in every human endeavor,” writes Brackett. “They influence everything from leadership effectiveness to building and maintaining complex relationships, from innovation to customer relations.”
An intriguing approach to identifying and relating to one’s emotions.Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-21284-9
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
