When I began writing it in February 2015, I was contemplating retirement. I had reduced my work week to 4 work days for a couple of years. I had stated my intention to retire at the end of June 2013 but circumstances related to lack of replacement led to my coming back half-time from late September 2013 until full retirement at the end of December 2015.
Since beginning this blog, I also began to use it as a tool to put forth some of my writings related to child development and parenting. For several years towards the end of my career, I had taken a quite regular part in a journal club run by our Infant, Child and Youth Mental Health Division of Richmond Mental Health And Addictions Services, which is itself an arm of Vancouver Coastal Health Authority. Some time ago, we had gone through the second volume of a ground-breaking and quite influential series of three books written by Allan Schore, a researcher and clinician, Affect Regulation and Disorders of the Self. I was so taken by what he wrote about, along with much of the other material about child development and recent understanding of it and how that relates to therapy, treatment, that we were reviewing, I felt I wanted to summarize this information in a book of my own creation. In particular, I wanted to "translate" this material in what I was learning for the benefit of laypeople, such as the parents and mothers we serve. It could also be of benefit to other clinicians, particularly non medical, working in the field. Anyone who has read Schore's volumes will understand that this is no easy task.
Part of the reason I took this last initiative on was because I thought I could apply what I had learned for the benefit of programs and initiatives in our community that worked with young mothers and parents. I volunteered with Union Gospel Mission, took their orientation and was quite interested in a program of young mothers they run, as well as the general adolescent program. However, the leader of the first program was hard to make contact with and that direction generally seem to dissolve. Our own church runs a community meal twice a month and it was evident that some of the parents attending their might have been able to benefit from some input in regards to the difficulties they had spoken of two some of our church members. However, even that did not seem to get off the ground despite some of my efforts. Thirdly, when I had what I could call an exit interview with the new Program Director in Richmond prior to my retirement, she mentioned another group of young mothers in the community that sounded as though it were another possibility for myself to volunteer with. However, again, my attempts to make contact with the individuals actually in charge of the program again never got anywhere.
All of this led to a certain lack of interest, understandably, in following through with working on this book. It certainly seemed as if there would be no ready-made audience to benefit from it. Some on-line checking revealed that there are other books written along this vein under the common heading nowadays of things like Parenting and Child Development for Dummies. Again, that led me to question what I might add to this literature that would be different enough to be worthwhile pursuing. All of that led to my not continuing with writing in this area for a few months, as I mentioned in a blog entry from August. However, since then I have tried to discipline myself to continue working on this project. Indeed, I even went to the length of purchasing volumes one and three of Schore's books and have begun to work my way through volume 1 and distill its material for my purposes.
As I reflect on this process, part of me thinks I am doing this because I have been used to working in this area and I'm not yet totally psychologically giving it up. Part of me was stimulated enough by this material to feel that I wanted to share it with a wider audience. So, at present, I will continue to work on it. Earlier on, I had placed sections of it as entries in my blog. However, the manner in which I am working at it at present does not readily lend itself to that. I am taking material from my readings and placing it into what I consider appropriate chapters in the outline I have developed for this book, so I am not really coming up with discrete portions that can be parcelled out as blog entries at this time. So, at this time all I can say is I'm not sure how soon more of it will "see the light of day" on my blog.
Part of the reason also for putting it on my blog in this way was that I hoped I would get feedback from it that would help me develop the book. However, the seemingly limited response to my blog certainly did not fulfill those expectations, at least so far. At this point though, I will persist in writing and see if I can figure out when I have sections that can be shared, hopefully for the benefit of others, and also for those interested in the field to give me suggestions for pursuing this further. I am not sure I have ever posted my outline, but I will follow with it, which might make my direction more clear and hopefully attract some interest. This is by no means final, but simply a work-in-progress.
Chapter Title Page
I.
So, You Are Going
to/You Want to Have A Child/Baby?
a. Unplanned
b. Planned - natural,
artificial and adopted
c. Parent and family
setting – couple, single, extended
II.
What are You
Bringing to This Child?
a. Your genes –
heredity and more
b. Your childhood –
normal, traumatic
c. Your parents and
their parenting
d. Your dreams
III.
What is Your Child
Bringing to You?
a. His/Her genes
b. The result of the
pregnancy experience
c. Inborn readiness –
neurological circuits, instincts
IV.
The Ups And Downs
of Pregnancy - Your Experience
a. Your health –
physical and emotional
b. Getting ready for
baby – pre-natal care, classes
c. Your expectations
d. The family setting
– alone or accompanied
e. Other factors
V.
Surprises at Birth
a. Circumstances –
normal, pre- or post-mature, hospital or home, induced,
traumatic, surgical
b. Aftermath – normal
nursery, intensive care
c. The family setting
– alone or accompanied
VI.
The first days
a. Bonding
b. Caring for baby
c. Nursing or formula
d. The family setting
e. To circumcise or
not
VII.
The first 2 months
a. Feeding, cleaning
up and sleeping
VIII.
Three to Six months
a. Interaction,
increase in movement
b. Managing choking
and performing CPR
c. The beginnings of
temperament
IX.
Seven to Nine
Months
a. Getting moving –
crawling to walking
X.
Ten to Twelve Months
a. First words
XI.
Thirteen to Eighteen
months
XII.
Nineteen to
Twenty-four months
a. Development of
counter-will
XIII.
Year Three
XIV.
Year Four
a. Sunny days may be
here
XV.
Year Five
a. School readiness
and preparation
References
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