They feel that everyone else has a handle on how to raise a child. Everyone else's children are well behaved. Everyone else's children listen to them. Everyone else's children don't drive them crazy. Why do mine drive me crazy? It is my experience, after visiting with thousands of parents, that we all feel inadequate as parents. Some may appear to have things more organized and together than others, but we all suffer from a lack of confidence when it comes to parenting.

Whether you are a first time parent or have several children, each child changes the dynamics in your family. Kids do not come with owner's manuals. I have often wondered why not. Raising a child is the most important thing you will ever do in your life. There is very little direction and instruction given to parents when they leave the nursery with a newborn baby. This is a guide to help parents navigate the world of parenting. I also share some of the things I have felt while raising my own children. Hearing things from a so called "expert" validates feelings that you may be experiencing. I am forever amazed at the number of parents who say, "Gosh. I thought I was the only one who felt that way. How did you know?" I know because I have been there to.

I had twins while working as a physician fulltime. It was quite a challenge from day one. I sought out people who had twins in order to learn how other mothers handled this task. I thought it would give me an idea of how to balance my home and work life. I attended Mothers of Multiples meeting a couple of times in Denver. It is a support and comradery group for mothers with twins, triplets, quads, etc. The mothers all seemed like they were on Prozac. Every one of them talked about how easy and wonderful it was to parent multiples. Come to find out a lot of them didn't work. More of them had full time or live in nannies. They had a different perspective than I did. It worked for them and that's fine. I chose to be a mom and a career person. It made things a bit more stressful and busy. It also made things more fun.

So why did I write this series? I am writing this book to reach out to all of you who feel that parenting is not the easiest thing in the world. I think there is a large majority of moms and dads who feel clueless when it comes to raising kids. Even though I was a pediatrician, I know I felt clueless and ill prepared to be a parent. We wonder if we are doing a good job. We learn by on the job training.

I learned that everything they teach you in medical school and residency regarding child rearing is a myth. Either that or the rules were drafted by old men who had never raised children. They worked all the time and their wives raised the kids. You need to have good advice and ideas about parenting. You also need to feel confident in your skills of parenting. Just like I learned to be a good physician through acquiring skills, I think I am learning to be a good parent through learning.

I am forever reading childhood development books and child rearing books in my free time. I pay attention when I see a caretaker doing something new and resourceful with their child. I try to incorporate new ideas into my life as a mom and parent. Some work, some don't. I just try to keep an open mind. I will share a lot of the ideas I have assimilated over the years with you. Take what you like and leave the rest. It's only a guideline. There is no one way to skin a cat or raise a child. Do what works for you and lets you have peace and harmony in your life as a parent.

I want to make this series fun and intimate. So I have included a lot of personal anecdotes. I hope you will enjoy them. Sometimes the public at large (and even we ourselves) take doctors too seriously. Sometimes we are put up on a pedestal. People think physicians are all-knowing and never make mistakes. Well, sorry to burst your bubble. We put our pants on the same way as everyone else in the world. We are just better at hiding our flaws. Like I said, we learn to have a great poker face. Everything physicians know is learned through hard work, trial and error, and little luck. Most of us are very eager to teach this knowledge to others. I want to make you the expert too.