Book SummaryCribsheet, by Emily Oster

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of Cribsheet

Will breastfeeding your baby raise their IQ? When should you start potty training your toddler? Parents of young children often ask questions like these, as they’re eager to know the right way to parent. However, Emily Oster argues in Cribsheet that there isn’t just one right way to parent a young child. Every family has different goals and situations, so what’s best for one family isn’t always best for another. Oster argues that you can discover the best parenting decisions for your family by consulting research and applying strategies from economics to your decision-making process. In her book, she shares advice on making research-based parenting decisions.

Oster, a mother of two and a professor at Brown...

Cribsheet Summary The Problem: Parenting Decisions Are Overwhelming

Oster claims that decisions around parenting are often overwhelming because you must navigate moral judgments, contradictory advice, and confusing data. Parents encounter these challenges when seeking advice from people they know (such as doctors, family, and friends) as well as seeking advice online or in books. In this section, we’ll further explore these three challenges.

(Shortform note: The majority of parents turn to the Internet for information to guide their parenting decisions, and research reveals that much of this information is unreliable. For instance, one study that examined online information on caring for preterm infants found that less than half of websites offered trustworthy advice. Health experts who are concerned about the low quality of online parenting advice urge parents to avoid relying on search engine results and instead rely on these two types of online resources: 1) virtual care visits with your child’s doctor;...

Cribsheet Summary The Solution: Make Decisions Using Economic Reasoning

Oster argues that the best way to overcome the stress of parenting decisions is to apply wisdom from economics to your choices. Economics includes the study of how people make decisions under constraints. Ideas from this field, which we’ll call economic reasoning, improve your parenting decisions in two ways.

First, economic reasoning helps you determine how to make a decision, rather than what to decide. This assists you in making a decision that’s best for your situation, instead of what’s best for other people’s situations.

(Shortform note: Oster’s advice to make a decision that’s best for you, even if it’s not what others have decided, may be easier to follow in some cultures than in others. Cultures exist on a spectrum from having “tight” social norms to having “loose” social norms. If you live in a “tight” culture, such as Germany or Pakistan, people expect you to conform to social norms. In these countries, you may feel less comfortable taking an unconventional parenting approach. By contrast, if you live in a “loose” culture, such as Brazil or New Zealand,...

Cribsheet Summary How to Make the Best Parenting Decisions

In this section, we’ll examine three goals to work towards any time you make a parenting decision. Throughout this section, we’ll illustrate these goals’ concepts using this one example: deciding whether or not to adopt a furry pet shortly before your child’s birth.

Goal 1: Gather Actionable Data

According to Oster, you should base your parenting decisions on actionable data: data that reveal which actions cause which outcomes. Here, we’ll explore why data from randomized trials are more actionable, and therefore more useful, than data from observational studies.

The Most Actionable Type of Study: Randomized Trials

Oster argues that you should base your parenting decisions on data from randomized trials because these studies’ data reveal causality. Randomized trials are a type of experiment in which researchers first randomly sort test subjects into groups. Then, they select one of those groups to experience the variable under study. This process ensures that there are no differences between the groups other than that variable. Therefore, researchers can conclude that any difference in the groups’ outcomes results from the variable studied....

Cribsheet Summary Data to Inform Your Parenting Decisions

In this section, we present Oster’s research-based recommendations on several of the most important and controversial issues that crop up during a child’s first three years. Oster reviewed hundreds of studies and claims she based these recommendations on the most trustworthy, actionable research (usually randomized trials). We’ll begin this section with three topics that are relevant to the months following your baby’s birth: childbirth recovery, sleep, and feeding. Then, we’ll cover two topics that relate to supporting your toddler’s independence: potty training and discipline.

(Shortform note: There’s a topic that Oster doesn’t consider in her research that another economist argues is the most important parenting decision: where parents raise their kid(s). Specifically, he cites evidence that children who grow up in neighborhoods with positive role models are more successful than children who don’t. He defines positive role models as people who are smart, are family-oriented, have successful careers, and are committed to their community.)

Recovery From...

Shortform Exercise: Plan a Parenting Decision

In Cribsheet, Oster identifies some of the challenges that complicate the process of making parenting decisions, and she offers advice on how to make better-informed, less stressful decisions. Take some time to apply her ideas to an upcoming parenting decision.

Think about a parenting decision that’s on the horizon for you (whether you’re planning to have a child or currently have a young child). Describe the decision below. (For example, perhaps you’re determining whether to use cloth or disposable diapers.)