Behind the Book

An Easy Guide to Making Homemade Baby Food: From One Mom to the Next

Guest post written by Adrianne Hunter
for A Cozy Reader's Corner Reviews.

When my son was at the age to start solid food, I started doing a lot of research on homemade baby food vs store bought food. I am, by no means, an “organic” person! I was really looking into it in hopes of saving our family some money. At that time, things were tight – real tight – with our finances. I just thought there had to be some way to provide my son good, nutritious food without breaking the bank.

I spent countless hours researching the ins and outs of making his baby food. Mind you, I was also working full time, so many of these hours either pulled me away from my family time or kept me awake far too late. I went into several bookstores looking for books – only to walk away empty handed, frustrated and overwhelmed by the 200 – 300+ page books on the topic. No way did I have enough time to read those books. I didn’t need to read 100 pages on how nutritious fresh vegetables are, nor did I need to read another 100 pages on how to get my kid to eat vegetables by making them into a smiley-face.

Wasn’t there just a short, simple book where I could find easy recipes and directions on how to do it? Because for some reason, I couldn’t even figure out how to cook carrots I was so overwhelmed by everything.

Writing a book was not on my “bucket list”. But I had so many of my friends and family ask me about it, literally one day I thought, “I should write a book to help other mothers out there like me – stressed and frazzled yet totally concerned for my son’s health and well-being.” My husband agreed, and off I went.

Writing the book came really easy – I knew what I wanted to say and felt passionate about sharing my ideas and tips with others. The hard part was finding a way to publish it. Since I was completely ignorant of the publishing world, I literally stumbled my way through the process: tons of internet research and reading books in order to find ways to write a proper book proposal, where to find possible publishers, etc. But I truly believed in my book, and I was thrilled when Diversion Press made the offer to publish it! I tell people my book was published with a lot of God’s help, a little bit of luck, and an editor who was also a mother!
---------------------
My Review--

For anyone who has children, the idea of homemade baby food is probably one that has passed through your mind at one point or another.  The process and implementation is entirely different!  Like Adrianne, I did not find books that were helpful for this topic.  It was much simpler to buy baby food out of a jar rather than make it and store it and worry about expiration dates, etc.  Adrianne's book,  An Easy Guide to Making Homemade Baby Food is a wonderful remedy to the problem areas of this mom debate.  What used to be the question "To make or not to make" is now a simple answer, "Make."

An Easy Guide to Making Homemade Baby Food is 48 pages full of simple recipes, helpful hints, guides and practical foods for your baby.  There is a convenient chart located at the back of the food that lays out the appropriate foods for your child's age group.  Best of all, many of these recipes could be used for the entire family if desired.  Baby's portion could easily be chopped smaller for appropriate swallowing capabilities. This wonderful book touches on all the need to know topics and leaves everything else behind.  It is simple, easy to understand and fun to read.  Best of all, the book is written by a mom who understands, was frustrated and wanted to help other moms!  It truly is a straight to the point and easy guide on preparing baby food without relying on a jar!

The Parent’s Guide to Facebook: Tips and strategies to protect your children on the world’s largest social network.

Kathryn Rose
ISBN: 978-1453834558
Publisher: CreateSpace
Source: Reviewed for BookPleasures


"Your children are playing in an international playground with more than 500 million strangers. Over 9 million U.S. children between the ages of 13 and 17 are registered Facebook users. Just as you wouldn’t leave them alone on a physical playground, you need to watch and guide them on the virtual one too."

The above paragraph is taken directly from the back of The Parent’s Guide to Facebook and aside from the startling numbers I don’t think it quite does the book justice in regards to its importance for parents. I have been on many playgrounds, in many malls, and other areas where children roam free without the watch of a guardian and it’s dangerous and reckless. Leaving your children unguarded and unwatched on the virtual playground of social networks in many ways can be more devastating with crippling effects. Kathryn brings these points across in the pages of this wonderful guide. As parents we protect our kids from germs and diseases, bullies and criminals, and many other potentially harmful threats to their physical being, but are you prepared for the age of the cyber-crime, cyber-bully, and potential threats to their lives and careers before the opportunity is given for them to start? The Parent’s Guide to Facebook is a comprehensive, updated, step by step guide to Facebook designed to fully inform parents of the opportunities as well as the threats their children are exposed too on the world’s largest social network.

If you are a parent this book should be in your hands. If you are an adult and you’re not familiar with Facebook but you have an account or want an account this book should be in your hands. It is full of practical and updated information for Facebook users. I have been using social networks for years and I still learned a few things from this book. Social networks don’t send messages to each user explaining in easy terms the updates they make on a constant basis. The information is there for users if they opt to find it, but would the average user search out this information or understand it completely? Most likely not, this is where The Parent’s Guide to Facebook comes in handy! Regardless of your status as a parent, this book is full of valuable information explained so that anyone can understand. It is equipped with screen shots (examples) and step by step guidance to help you protect yourself on the internet. This book is especially important for parents of young Facebook users who may or may not fully understand the implications of privacy threats. Simple things can easily fall into the wrong hands and ruin a life forever. Facebook is a great tool and meant for fun and enjoyment. It is easy to do both of those things once you protect yourself and your family from possible harm. It’s as simple as locking the door when you leave the house or go to bed, the guide is a wonderful tool that is easy to use and understand.

In this guide you will find information on the following items:
• How to set up a Facebook profile and other basics to getting started.
• Walk through of account settings complete with explanations and recommendations.
• Explanations of security settings along with risk and issues that could arise with identity theft, how to protect your children as well as yourself!
• Updated information for new features of Facebook (example: Facebook Places new as of August 2010)
• Screen shots, examples and step by step guidance for each section. A “how-to” guide.
• How to protect your child from cyber-bullying.
• Information on laws and other important internet knowledge in regards to social-networks.
• Information on “The Wall and News Feed”, Friend list, Friend request, games and reputation monitoring.
• Guidance on the topic of talking to your children and educating them about appropriate posting.
• Protection on privacy issues often hidden due to joining a group or playing a game.
• The value of Facebook! Fun, Friendship and social engagement for those prepared to use the site safely and wisely.
• Family Facebook Contract

I could not recommend this book enough. It is well written and easy to understand. I feel it covered every topic needed and as I previously stated, I learned a few things myself and made updates and changes to my account. I firmly believe this is a book that will help parents who may or may not know much about social networking. It is a book that can help multiple age groups and should not be written off because it is marketed to parents. It is important to know that this guide is not endorsed by or associated with Facebook Corporation. It is written by Kathryn Rose, a Certified Social Media Strategist and Trainer. She specializes in many areas that make her extremely qualified to write this book.