Few occasions provoke more anxiety in parents than when a child is ill, and it is the duty of the pediatrician to calm those parental fears in times of distress. Every day, well-educated and highly intelligent parents unnecessarily bring their children to the emergency room out of fear that a high fever might cause permanent brain damage. Imagine the number of people that might benefit from a book that compiles all these myths and clears up these misconceptions once and for all.
The goal of this book is not to discredit the ancient wisdom of parenthood. The innate instinct of parents often proves uncanny. Indeed, much of the knowledge that has been passed down through the generations has proved to be both practical and life saving. This book is designed to supplement experience and instinct to empower parents with the latest, most accurate medical information. This allows you to make the best decision for your children when they are not feeling well.
While instinct and experience are often valuable, there are also numerous myths associated with children's health. Though the origin of most of these misconceptions is obscure and lacking in supporting evidence, they tend to be tenaciously held by many parents.
The idea for this book, which covers conditions that affect infants to adolescents, was born from a desire to shed light on these areas of misunderstandings. This book is intended for all parents, as well as for people who plan to become parents one day. It is not just intended for new parents; many of the myths addressed in the book are widely believed, even by experienced parents who have raised many children. In fact, grandparents can also benefit from this book, as they are frequently the source for advice in child rearing.
This book is not intended to serve as a comprehensive reference book concerning the care of your child. Rather, it is meant to complement medical source books such as those. It is written to address subjects that are not often covered by books on pediatric health. A typical parent with children is likely to be too tired to read another comprehensive manual on how to raise children. Most parents are lucky to garner enough energy to make it through the day without collapsing. Raising children is rewarding, but it can be extremely taxing at the same time. This is a book that parents can read for fun while their princes and princesses are taking their afternoon naps. Not only does it provide an interesting read, it also educates parents in a condensed format on how to better care for their loved ones.
Because this book is not written for medical professionals, no prior medical knowledge is required to read and understand the content. In fact, one of the aims of this book is to translate inaccessible information and make it available to every parent.
Lastly, this book was purposely designed to have a light tone and to be easy to read. Dealing with a sick child is stressful enough. While some of the subject matter covered here is serious and heavy-duty stuff, the content is infused where appropriate with humor and levity. This is definitely not a cut-and-dried medical textbook. At all times, the information is relevant to the reader and readily applicable to real-life situations.