You are 3 steps away from becoming a more perceptive parent. A one-size-fits-all approach to parenting doesn't work. Parents are faced with hundreds of questions in their child's first years. Breast or bottle? Comfort a 6-month-old child now or let her cry? Allow some TV or none at all? But how meaningful can the answers be when they're offered by someone who doesn't know the parent or the child? Instead of offering answers that apply to "most" families, experienced child-care specialists Claire Lerner and Amy Laura Dombro explain: 1. How parents can understand their own parenting style and its effect on their child; 2. How parents can observe their child to understand what she is feeling and thinking; and 3. How to use those observations to make healthy and effective decisions. With this easy, 3-step approach, parents can learn to become experts on their own child's healthy development. - Cover.