The Yale Child Study Center Guide to Understanding Your Child: Healthy Development from Birth to Adolescence - Hardcover

Linda C. Mayes M.D.; Donald J. Cohen M.D.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0316954322 ISBN 13: 9780316954327

Publisher: Little Brown & Co., 2002

Synopsis

Experts in the field of parenting and child development provide timely and practical answers to every parenting concern and issue and offer sound advice on everything from preparation for the birth of a first child and toilet training to discipline, learning styles, substance abuse, and health care. 25,000 first printing.

About this title

About the Author

Linda C. Mayes, a developmental pediatrician and psychoanalyst, is the Arnold Gesell Associate Professor of Child Psychiatry, Pediatrics, and Psychology in the Yale Child Study Center, where she directs the early childhood programs.

Donald J. Cohen, the Irving B. Harris Professor of Child Psychiatry, Pediatrics, and Psychology in the Yale Child Study Center, is a child and adolescent psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, and the Director of the Yale Child Study Center.

Reviews

Arranged by topics like early baby functions, emotional growth, learning right from wrong, and sexuality and gender, this encyclopedic guide explains all facets of children's psychological and physical growth and advises parents on how best to stimulate development and resolve common dilemmas. The authors, professors of child psychiatry and pediatrics at the Yale Child Study Center, write in reassuring language. "If you are listening to Mozart," they explain, "by all means play Mozart as you rock your infant. But if you prefer to sing along with Ray Charles, there's no need to choose Mozart instead. The games, books, and other products that keep you and your child interested are more useful than those `recommend by experts' for children in general." Perhaps the most helpful sections of the book are those focused on school. Parents will find information on diagnosing learning disabilities, finding special schools, encouraging reading, and coping with school-related behavior problems. Some parents accustomed to slim, trendy tomes may initially find this hefty volume intimidating, but it deserves a place on the parenting shelf in every household.

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

This particular guide brings an esteemed name and 90 years of research at the Yale Center to the task of advising parents on raising their children. Aimed at parents, teachers, and child-care professionals, the book uses research from several disciplines and interactions with parents and children. The book offers three perspectives: the scientific, with basic information about meeting a growing child's needs; the emotional, with attention to understanding a child's feelings; and the parental, with emphasis on the feelings and expectations the parent brings to the relationship: "Your view of yourself as a parent and your mental portrait of your child shape your parenting style." The objective is to help parents balance the three perspectives. Unlike most parenting books, this guide looks at broad developmental paths from the time the parent first begins to imagine the child to come, through pregnancy, birth, and various physical, cognitive, social, and emotional stages. This approach lends the guide a broad and deep perspective on parenting even as it covers typical issues such as imaginary friends and sibling rivalry. REVWR
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Although this survey of child development and parenthood packs considerable wisdom and bears a prestigious imprimatur, it comes off as fairly generic. With its emphasis on a conceptual, developmental approach, it stands out in strong intellectual counterpoint to the quick how-to tactics of many contemporary titles, such as Sally Ward's BabyTalk: Strengthen Your Child's Ability To Listen, Understand and Communicate (LJ 3/15/01). Mayes, director of early childhood programs at the Yale Child Study Center, and Cohen, its former director, cover individual topics in 36 chapters (e.g., "Your Baby's Motor Development," "Sexuality and Gender," "The Course of Pregnancy"). Though this comprehensiveness is a plus, much of the advice is common sense ("negative experiences or the absence of appropriate care may cause serious, enduring harm to early brain development"). As admirable as the authors' goals are, it is hard to imagine public library patrons reading and retaining this much general information. For larger public libraries. (Index not seen.) Douglas C. Lord, Connecticut State Lib., Hartford
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Little Brown & Co.
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0316954322
• ISBN 13: 9780316954327
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 624