"I am the Emergency Parental Hologram. Please state the nature of your child-rearing emergency."

Including some written by (Dr.) Spock.

That's peanuts. Just look how cruel he was with poor Mr. Joshua.

There was never a good reason to go into parenting unprepared.

But I'm kinda half on the dad's side here: even if you read the best books about it, reality hits different. Every kid is different. The emotional aspects are hard to cover in books. It's a reward but also a challenge to your relationship (assuming that's your starting point) and most importantly: kids go through phases all the time. By the time you feel comfortable dealing with a baby they're in their terrible twos, and so on all the way into adulthood.

While there are a lot of parenting books, it's only in the last few years that it has been properly studied, scientifically. My generation of parents is one of the first to be able to truly make use of the advancements.

Basically, it wasn't that handbooks didn't exist (when the episode was made), but that they contradicted each other.

How much would it cost to get Ron Howard to voice-over clap-back every canon break in the franchise? Or, for Trek it should probably be Clint Howard.

I wonder what percentage of the books have absolutely bonkers advice. I know Dobson contributed a few.

Point is taken but especially as they grow, challenges become more unique to their personality. Every baby shits and feeds much the same way. How do you instill good values and habits in a 10 year old? Depends a lot on the 10 year old.