Customer Rating: 
Summary: Massage and Fun
Comment: I have known Robert for 15 years. He has Rolfed (type of massage) my husband, our twin girls 8 years old (since they were 4 weeks old and of course me. Reading this book has reinforced a lot of what I have learned from Robert. But more importantly I learned a lot more of what I didn't know. I have found this book easy to read. I really liked the step by step instructions. My girls really like trying different kinds of oils. The drawings are helpful for those of us who don't know all the parts of our anatomy, like me.
My children and I had a blast with this book.
I have twin girl's 8 years old. They couldn't wait until I learned another part of their bodies to massage. They would say me first! No me first!
The girls are both in gymnastics, competing this year at Level 6. I give them their message before each competition. It calms them down and focuses them on what they need to do. The one says "look out world I am ready now!" and leaps off the bed!
They give me messages. A few times for full 35 minutes. I can't get that from my husband; and from talking to others they say the same thing "my spouse will only message me for 5 minutes, if I'm lucky." Massaging my girls is so fulfilling. The loving care I can give them is priceless. This book really makes a difference.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: good for the massage instructions
Comment: Mostly a good tool for actually giving directions on how to perform massage on babies and children although the written instructions are so long that following along with them while performing the massage may be difficult.There is not much background information here about the benefits of massage. There are no references to studies, etc. that show that massage is better. (Other books I've seen have pages of references.) Infant and child bonding is not explored or discussed nearly as much as I would have liked to have seen. There is only one half of a page of information about massaging premature babies and no illustrations for these instructions. There are two pages discussing special needs children which is very vague, not really discussing the various different special needs issues.
Every body part is matched to a new-agey reference such as the sides of the body linking to "the many sides of life" and the inner legs with "vitality".
I was surprised there was no reference for special techniques to use on the colicky or fussy baby: the main reason that parents I know are first drawn to infant massage. This book does give the different instructions for baby and then the older child.
Line drawings, mostly of the body part, are on one side with very long written instructions next to it. I would prefer to show the whole baby as it is a reminder that the baby is a whole person. (Reminds me of Western medical doctors who view their patients as just body parts or diseases, unconnected to a real whole person.) The layout of illustration next to directions is nice but the instructions are so long that it would not be easy to follow if trying to read while actually doing the massage technique.
A slim volume. If you just want directions with illustrations then you would like this book. I think there are better books on the market that discuss massage more in detail, do address colic, fussiness, and have more on premature infants and special needs babies and children.
Of note for those interested the cover shows three Caucasian children, the back has one dark skinned child (not African-American) and one Asian child. All illustrations inside appear to be Caucasian.
