Elia Parsons, mom's almanac writer, dies

Elia S. Parsons wasn't a doctor, a professor or, at first glance, an expert of any sort. She was a Washington mom -- just the sort of woman to help write "The Mother's Almanac," a homespun guide to parenting that changed the genre of child-rearing books after its 1975 release.

Parsons died Dec. 26 in Rockville, Md. She had complications from Alzheimer's disease, said daughter Amalia Jones. Parsons was 74.

Four decades ago, Parsons was busy raising her three children when neighbor Marguerite Kelly came to her with a proposition: cowrite a simple, from-the-heart manual for young mothers such as themselves.

The problem was not that there were too few advice books on the shelves. By the turn of the 20th century, motherhood had been made into a "professional undertaking," said Ann Hulbert, the author of "Raising America," which analyzes the history of the country's parenting advice. Scientific inquiry had led to dogmas, she said, as psychologists offered up definitive approaches to "healthier, smarter, better children."

The gentlest of all the professionals was Benjamin Spock, the pediatrician who wrote the landmark tome "Baby and Child Care," first published in 1946. Unlike many other experts, he wrote to mothers in an intimate, sympathetic way and told them not to worry. But even he was a doctor -- and a man, not a mom.

Parsons and Kelly wanted to write a book that would "de-escalate the idea that you have to be an expert to raise a child," Parsons once said.

The guide would begin with pregnancy and end around the child's sixth birthday. It would be stocked with reassurances about the day-to-day problems of motherhood, from tantrums to fevers, and insightful counsel about greater difficulties, such as divorce and death.

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The two women never could have expected that their almanac would sell more than 800,000 copies, or that it would signal a fundamental shift in the publishing industry. "What to Expect When You're Expecting" -- one of the most popular of all the by-moms-for-moms books that followed "The Mother's Almanac" -- has sold 17 million copies since its release in 1984.