Book Review: "Smart Start" a great resource for dads

A wee while ago we were given a book to review – “Smart Start” by Margaret Sassé who established the “GymbaROO” programme for early childhood development and learning which has been widely adopted and has become a global success story with over 100 Gymbaroo centres established worldwide . Sadly, Margaret passed away on the eve of her book being published on May 2nd this year. Her passion in life, to help children reach their full potential of physical and mental development through simple exercises is well captured in her book. Why is his relevant for Dads? Because statistics show that it’s mostly fathers who accompany children to Gymbaroo classes.

In her book Margaret points out that dads don’t always know how to engage with very young children. At the same time there is plenty of research that demonstrates how important it is particularly for fathers to actively engage in their children’s lives. Early father involvement is associated with children’s performance and many other positive benefits. Smart Start is a great resource for all dads who really want to get involved but are a little stuck for ideas or don’t know where to start.

The book is a very light read and is organised by developmental stages – Margaret uses a model with 8 stages which children go trough in the first 5 years of their lives. The book starts with very simple exercises for infants all the way to games and activities for 5-year olds. The exercises are all designed so that really EVER mum and dad can do them (you don’t need to be superfit) and they also don’t rely on any expensive equipment. You can mostly do them inside, outside or in a park with very little props being needed.

All in all it’s really a great little read and a handy reference for those days when you just don’t know what to do with your little people. If there was one aspect that I didn’t like it’s the fact that the book uses drawings rather than real photos to describe the exercises. Having done a book that contains exercises myself I know why they have done it that way though – photoshoots with babies, toddlers and young children are just a REAL challenge.

Anyway – a definite thumbs up from DIYFather.com for “Smart Start” – well worth investing the $30 to buy the book. It’s available from most bookshops or online at Exisle Publishing.

-Stefan