Home | Parenting Made Complicated

"If you’d like to sit down with a wise, caring, realistic doctor who can help steer you through the crazy-making maze of childrearing advice, pull up a chair."

-- Lenore Skenazy, president of Let Grow, founder of Free-Range Kids

Available Feb 2021

A one size does NOT fit all parenting book

"As the parent of a complicated child, I am so thrilled about this new book from Dr. Rettew. This is the parenting manual I wish I’d had for all four of my children."

– Liza Long, author of The Price of Silence: A Mom’s Perspective on Mental Illness

"Dr. Rettew does not offer hyped shortcuts. He tells it like it is. As a parent, scientist, and gifted writer, his volume provides much needed direction."

- Dr. Andrés Martin, former editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry

"Thoughtful, insightful, and eminently readable, Parenting Made Complicated will educate and delight moms and dads as they wade through the all too often murky waters of parenthood."

- Jess Shatkin, author of Born to be Wild

Testimonials

Special Deal for

Book Clubs & Classes

Purchase at least 5 books and the author will join your group or class by videoconference for a 15 minute online discussion about the book. Once purchased, email parentingmadecomplicated@gmail.com

with the subject “Group purchase” to schedule your event.

All kids need love. All kids need limits.

After that,

things start to

get complicated.

Chaptes

Chapters

(Click here full list of chapters and summaries.)

Parenting Styles

What we know about Helicopter, Free-Range and other approaches.

Praising and Overpraising

How do all those “Great Jobs!” affect motivation?

Gender Development

How parents can and can’t affect gender expression and identity.

Screen Time

Early media use and its reported effect on aggression, attention, and anxiety.

Picky Eating

Some new approaches to an old problem. Note: a corrected version of Box 8.1 from the book can be found by clicking here.

Sleep Training

The science and controversy behind Ferberization and other methods.

Daycare vs. Homecare

What we learned from the daycare wars.

Divorce

Making the best of a bad situation.

Breastfeeding & I.Q.

Can breastmilk really lead to smarter kids?

Spanking & Time-Outs

The science of discipline.

Child Temperament

How are your kids hardwired?

Next Steps

You've learned so much. Put your knowledge into action.

Bio

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David Rettew, MD is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics at the University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine. He also is the Medical Director of the Child, Adolescent and Family Division of the Vermont Department of Mental Health. He received his undergraduate degree in psychology at the University of Pennsylvania before working at the National Institute of Mental Health. He then earned his medical degree at the University of Vermont followed by adult and child psychiatry training at Harvard Medical School within the Massachusetts General and McLean Hospital program.

He joined the UVM faculty in 2002 where he divides his time between clinical, teaching and research activities. Dr. Rettew has over 100 published journal articles, chapters, and scientific abstracts on a variety of child mental health topics, including a 2013 book entitled Child Temperament: New Thinking About the Boundary Between Traits and Illness. He also writes a blog for Psychology Today called, “The ABCs of Child Psychiatry” that has been viewed over a million times. You can follow him on Twitter and Facebook @PediPsych. Dr. Rettew is married and the father of three children.