How Eskimos Keep Their Babies Warm: And Other Adventures in Parenting (from Argentina to Tanzania and everywhere in between)

A tour of global practices that will inspire American parents to expand their horizons (and geographical borders) and learn that there's more than one way to diaper a baby. Mei-Ling Hopgood, a first-time mom from suburban Michigan-now living in Buenos Aires-was shocked that Argentine parents allow their children to stay up until all hours of the night. Could there really be social and developmental advantages to this custom? Driven by a journalist's curiosity and a new mother's desperation for answers, Hopgood embarked on a journey to learn how other cultures approach the challenges all parents face: bedtimes, potty training, feeding, teaching, and more. Observing parents around the globe and interviewing anthropologists, educators, and child-care experts, she discovered a world of new ideas. The Chinese excel at potty training, teaching their wee ones as young as six months old. Kenyans wear their babies in colorful cloth slings-not only is it part of their cultural heritage, but strollers seem outright silly on Nairobi's chaotic sidewalks. And the French are experts at turning their babies into healthy, adventurous eaters. Hopgood tested her discoveries on her spirited toddler, Sofia, with some enlightening results. This intimate and surprising look at the ways other cultures raise children offers parents the option of experimenting with tried and true methods from around the world and shows that there are many ways to be a good parent.

• Parenting: A Dynamic Perspective
• Parenting Without Borders: Surprising Lessons Parents Around the World Can Teach Us
• Bringing Up Bébé: One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting (now with Bébé Day by Day: 100 Keys to French Parenting)
• Parent-Child Relations: An Introduction to Parenting (9th Edition)
• The Danish Way of Parenting: What the Happiest People in the World Know About Raising Confident, Capable Kids
• There's No Such Thing as Bad Weather: A Scandinavian Mom's Secrets for Raising Healthy, Resilient, and Confident Kids (from Friluftsliv to Hygge)
• Expecting Better: Why the Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom Is Wrong--and What You Really Need to Know
• My Indian Boyhood
• The New Puberty: How to Navigate Early Development in Today's Girls
• The Happiest Kids in the World: How Dutch Parents Help Their Kids (and Themselves) by Doing Less