WHS Alum's First Book Helps Guide Young Parents

Sarah (Goldman) Davis' first book includes advice from her fellow Westborough High School alumni.

The 1998 graduate has written "Making Kid Time Count Ages 0-3: The Attentive Parent Advantage," published by Lesson Ladder.

The book is available at Barnes and Noble, and on Amazon. And the end of each chapter "includes 10-20 teacher or parent tested activities that can enhance each section of development! Some of these contributors were WHS alumni or residents of the Westborough/Shrewsbury area," Davis says.

"The book is written in a conversational style that is easy to read and includes many personal stories along with the research and activities," she said during a recent e-mail interview.

"I hope that readers enjoy that I am a parent of young children, like them, and relate to all the joys and challenges that having young children can bring!"
 

Westborough Patch
What inspired the book? 

Sarah Davis
In early 2012, I began a blog with my friend and neighbor, merelymothers.com. We write thoughtfully about parenting decisions and our lives as women and mothers.

About six months after we started the blog, I was contacted by an editor at Lesson Ladder, an educational publishing company based in Boston.

They were looking for a writer with young children, who had an education background. At the time, my son was almost two, and I was newly pregnant with my daughter. The editor was looking for me to investigate and write a book that  covered the most recent research on all aspects of a baby’s development, as well as activities that parents could do with their children to give a young one many  opportunities to grow.

This is my first book.

Westborough Patch
What drew you to teaching?

Sarah Davis
I have always loved children. As a teenager, I worked as a camp counselor, a swim teacher, a babysitter, and a teacher to toddler classes. Children are so much fun and are always full of energy, innocence, and joy. After eight years in the classroom, I’ve enjoyed creating relationships with my students, helping them discover new concepts, and helping them to grow in their confidence and self-esteem.

Westborough Patch
The press kit refers to the book as a “guidebook.” How so?

Sarah Davis
The book gives parents the tools they need to maximize their time with their 0-3 year old.

These years are a critical time in a child’s development. The brain is developing at rapid speed, and every interaction is setting the stage for how the baby will develop and interact with the world.

Often, a new parent may hear that these years are not significant because the child will not actively remember this time in her life, but this advice couldn’t be further from the truth. In reality, a child between the ages of 0-3 is soaking in every interaction and developing background schema for every environment she is in.

This book covers much of the recent research about every aspect of child development, including physical, emotional, sensory, and cognitive development.

The book also includes guidelines on introducing literacy, music, community helpers and where to draw the line with technology.

One of the things that makes this book unique is that at the end of each developmental chapter, there are 10 to 20 parent or teacher tested activities that parents can do with their children to aid in that particular developmental area. For example, the literacy chapter is full of literacy games for a baby’s first life, but also gives suggestions for more complex games as a child grows.