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The book you are about to read explains why I decided to go against established opinions and practices.  It will show you how I developed a unique decision making process as it relates to raising a child.  It's about performing due diligence rather than blindly buying into mainstream opinions. After five years of research, contemplation, and listening to my intuition, I've learned to trust my own knowledge, experience, instinct, and feelings, even if they contradict what everyone else is doing.

In each chapter you will read about the unconventional decisions my husband and I have made in the raising of our daughter, who was five-years-old at the time of publishing. When you look at the topics in this book, they appear to be unrelated. But in reality they are closely related. The decisions we've made about each topic play a part in ensuring our daughter has the best possible chance of becoming a whole, healthy and balanced person who joyfully lives life to the fullest. I purposely kept each topic short so that busy people could read the book quickly. (I am currently working on expanding each topic into its own book for people who desire more detail.)

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Before I became pregnant with Genevieve, I had strong opinions about many topics involved in child rearing - all based on what the "professionals" predicated. Having spent many years in educational institutions, I thought children should spend more time in school - possibly year round - and the more homework the better. I thought that vaccines were an absolute must. I thought that buying Baby Einstein videos for six-month-old babies was a great way to give them a head start in life. I thought that banking cord blood was a no-brainer and should be done without hesitation. Before having my child, I wasn?t forced to think hard about such topics; I didn't have the intuition and instincts that caused me to question mainstream information presented by the media.

When Genevieve was born, the magnitude of parenthood and its responsibility hit me like a slap in the face, and my look-beneath-the-covers personality suddenly came to life. If mainstream media was reporting that everybody was doing X, I was not likely to believe it without doing my own research. It was easy to become complacent and lazy about my own life, but I wasn't going to be that way with my daughter's.

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Let your previously established mindsets be challenged as you read each chapter. By the time you finish the book, you'll have greater understanding and firmer convictions about the way you are raising your children (or plan to raise your children). But be prepared; you may also find yourself changing some of your conventional and cherished ideas, or at the very least, embarking on a long journey of research for yourself.

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