1. Finish high school and go as far in school as you can.
If one parent will be home with the children, it is pointless investing in more than a bachelors degree for that parent. When people have masters and doctorates they generally feel compelled to get their money's worth and work outside the home. This doesn't even address the burden of the debt. (The liberal agenda is, as always, "keep 'em school" for more brainwashing and the feminist angle of women should have as many degrees as their husband.)
2. Wait until you're at least in your 20s to have a child.
Wrong again. Our bodies make the best babies when we are young. The older we get, the higher the risk of a down syndrome or special needs baby. This should simply say wait until you finish your undergraduate degree and you have both gotten all of your partying out of both of your systems.
3. Get married before having a child and make sure that both parents are involved in raising the child.
Good. No argument on this one.
4. Limit your family to two children, especially if you have a lower income.
This is bogus, save-the-world-from-people propaganda. There is no correlation between the number of children in a family and IQ's, once factors for age and multiple births are removed.
5. Try to have a good income before starting a family.
Make sure you can afford it and/or can juggle things so that one parent is with the baby most of his waking hours (at least by the second child, anyway).
The second list, after conception, includes:
1. Get good nutrition and prenatal health care to avoid low-weight birth.
How about no drinking, no smoking, exercise and no caffeine? Or playing classical music regularly. Avoiding huge emotional yelling and screaming matches that raise everybody's blood pressure. Taking nice relaxing warm (not hot) baths.
2. Breast feed your child -- very important! This ensures essential nutrients for brain growth.
La Leche League liberals happen to be right about this one. And if you're having trouble with breast feeding, don't quit. Call the league for help.
3. Spend as much time as possible instructing your child -- starting as early as possible -- in reading, numbers, shapes, colors, etc. Expose your child to as many experiences outside the home as possible.
Instructing your child? This is where this lady shows her true ignorance. Young children need a wide variety of experiences and outings where they will encounter different people, different objects, and different activities. They also need lots of quiet days at home for imaginary play. Jamming letters and numbers down the preschoolers throat will prove to be an exercise in frustration for parent and child This is a plea for "Head Start". Actually, if you have a bright child, it is to their advantage to have something left to learn in kindergarten so that they are not bored out of their little minds.
4. Nurture your child with love, affection and respect; avoid excessive physical discipline.
Nurture your child with game playing, reading and casual conversation in the car.
Nurture your child by trying your best to understand what they are saying to you.
Nurture your child by being the prince to her princess.
Nurture your child by playing classical music more than you play "The wheels on the bus...."
Nurture your child by throwing the satellite dish and cable box into the dumpster. Select their videos carefully.
Nurture your child by joining a music class that emphasizes the use of the xylophone or keyboard.
Nuture your child by feeding them fresh, healthy home-prepared foods.
Nurture your child by not giving them food dyes, or soda or gobs and gobs of sugar and french fries.
Nurture your child by feeding them on their stomach's schedule not your life's schedule.
Nurture your child by making sure they are physically active and not overly protected.
Nurture your child be setting clear, predictable guidelines for behavior, so they can put their energy into exploring the world instead of manipulating you.
But above all, nurture your child by making sure that they have enough sleep.
The affection and love are always a natural outcome of the bonding process. Only a liberal would tell you to force an emotion and to limit discipline (after all, self-gratification is the core principle of liberalism).