Book excerpt: Abandon your insecurities. Trust your instincts. Enjoy raising a happy, considerate child. SMART CHILDREARING SENSE FROM THE FOUNDING EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF BABBLE.COM What’s the right way to parent? Any playground or online message board will supply as many opinions as there are adults. Every subject—from sleep training to time-outs to pacifiers—has its supporters and detractors, and every viewpoint can be backed up by a truckload of research and statistics. It’s enough to reduce any new parent to tears, but you can end the madness. Ada Calhoun—a young mother as well as the founding editor-in-chief of Babble .com—provides a complete and completely reassuring guide that will calm your fears and make those precious early years a source of joy. Her simple yet profound advice: find what works for you and your family and ditch the anxiety and judgment. Despite what other parenting books—and other parents—might have you believe, there is no universal “best.” Whether you start solids at four months or eight, whether you co-sleep or Ferberize, whether Junior’s mac ’n’ cheese is Day-Glo orange or 100 percent organic is not nearly as important as providing the few absolute essentials (love, food, shelter) while teaching your little one how to be a kind, responsible human being. With its compelling mixture of entertaining, hilarious firsthand accounts and refreshing common sense, Instinctive Parenting will show you how to do that—and even show you how to retain your sanity, your friends, your sense of humor, and your personal life in the process.