Title: The Baby and the Seed
Author: Leland “Bud” Beamer, M.D.
Subtitle: A Primer on Good Parenting / A Book for the Entire Family
Publisher: XlibrisUS
ISBN: 978-16642-2462-2
Pages: 62
Genre: Poetry / Parenting
Reviewed by: Barbara Miller
Pacific Book Review
The Baby and the Seed by author Leland “Bud” Beamer, M.D., comprises a variety of genres including poetry, parenting, and child development, along with emphasizing the morals of unconditional love as being necessary for a healthy family upbringing. Interestingly, I found the quotation at the start of the book very prophetic, “It is hard to straighten in the oak the crook that formed in the sapling,” as the Gaelic saying begins the text. The first half of the book uses a metaphor of a seed of wheat being analogues to the birth of a newborn child. Needing time and nurturing to sow the benefits destined by these miracles, albeit a human baby is far more intricate than a grain seed, the similarities do show some correlation of work effort. Without proper attention, both will fail to provide the yield of their full potential. For a baby, the book emphasizes the need for eye-contact by the mother, as well as holding the infant firmly to provide security, and of course many loving smiles from the heart; all this is like plowing the soil for the seed, as seen in this following excerpt:
“We must think of these things as a child grows, or as a farmer, the seeds that he sows.The people and wheat that they become determined by care when they were young.”
The book then morphs into a listing of skills needed to teach a child so they can grow into a healthy adult. These skills include: Reading; Music; Playing; Sharing Chores; and so on, of course once again including love. Each of these pages are interlaced with illustrations by artist Kirk Charlton with portraits by Paul Lanquist, which add depth to the themes and slows down the paging of the book allowing for appreciation of the pictures.
The most surprising aspect of The Baby and the Seed, comes towards the end of the book in which the combination of the author and illustrators draw an image of brain cells (synapses) with a “healthy/unhealthy” image showing the effects of stress on the growing brain. Other medical images are shown to further exemplify the physical benefits of good parenting verses weakened biological aspects resulting from the lack these recommended parenting qualities.
As everyone knows babies do not come with an instruction manual, The Baby and the Seed can be thought of a poetic book of love along with a very clear medical persuasion of the do’s-and-don’ts for raising a child. It is a book which will linger in the readers’ mind, as well as being an invaluable gift for any pregnant parent, or mother of an infant.
