This delightful guide helps new parents (and weary second- or third-time parents) learn to do less, listen more, and spend more focused, fruitful time with their children. Practical and fun to read, the book urges parents to treat every task — even diapering and feeding — as a chance to connect with their child. The short chapters give calming advice about hot-button issues, from pacifier use to sharing, television viewing to tantrums. Parents will be relieved to find that they don't have to buy lots of stuff — a tree outside a baby's window can serve as a mobile — or shuttle kids from one activity to another. The authors believe that being present without resentment or distraction is the best present any parent can give.

Jessica Teich is a journalist and filmmaker, who is working on a book about the small group of women Rhodes Scholars (of which she is one).

Brandel France de Bravo is a poet and health educator. Both are mothers and longtime student of RIE (Resources for Infant Educarers), a unique method of infant and toddler care.

Agent: Brian DeFiore