Last updated: March 2, 2003
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Parenting Book Reviews Table of Contents Learning disabilities and ADHD |
Preschool-aged childrenDavid Elking: Miseducation - Preschoolers At Risk [sources incl. amazon] His premise is that many of our children are being misappropriately educated for their age level. In our zest for creating "superkids" we do so at the risk of subjecting our kids to both psychological and physical problems. He explains the different stages of how children learn and that early "miseducation" can cause permanent damage to their self-esteem, loss of a positive attitude towards learning, and actual physical problems caused by starting children in certain excellerated sports programs before their bodies have fully developed. I would highly recommend this book --Lynne Chantler [from a post] Yes, I not only read Elkind's book, but have lent my copy out to numerous friends. I absolutely agree with his arguments, and like Lynne, highly recommend the book. After reading _Miseducation_, I was more convinced than ever that finding a non-academic preschool was the way I wanted to go. Elkind basically states that early childhood educators have taken studies that show how much children are capable of learning in their early years (from about 2-6) and have twisted that around to make the argument that *since* kids' brains are so malleable, they can be taught all sorts of things, like reading and foreign languages. This perversion (sorry for such a strong word) of the brain studies results in what Elkind terms "miseducation." [...] (NOTE: Elkind (and I) are stressing the "pushing" part here; if a child shows an interest in learning to read, write, or whatever on his or her own, that's a different matter altogether.) As Lynne pointed out, Elkind makes the argument that by pushing children to learn academics at earlier ages when they are not interested in such things can do a lot of harm, and very little good. Young children learn through playing, and by encouraging them to explore their world at their own pace, parents and childhood educators lay the foundation for "readiness" to learn academic subjects. Allowed to learn at their own pace, with an "emergent curriculum" (i.e. learning that is self-directed and that emerges from the child's own interests), children are much more apt to soak up the academic stuff later on. --Diane Lin [from a post] Thomas Sowell: Late-Talking Children. 1997. [sources incl. amazon] Essential reading for parents worried about very slow speech development in apparently otherwise normal children. This is not a what-to-do book; it's a book about the experiences of a father whose son began talking extraordinarily late. I think the boy had something like ten words at age four; he's now, as an adult, a computer programmer. The father is an extremely interesting writer, a well-known economist. The book summarizes the results of his survey of other parents of late-talking children that were neither autistic nor hearing-impaired. The author hypothesizes that the slow speech development in this particular subset of children is the cost of rapid math development. --Paula Burch Bruno Bettleheim, A GOOD ENOUGH PARENT. Vintage Books, 1987. ISBN 0-394-75776-9. [sources incl. amazon] The title tells all. A very re-assuring book which makes room for the fact that we parents are people who make mistakes and don't have to perfect. Some helpful arguments against some long-held beliefs, e.g., spanking as punishment, etc. If Only I Were a Better Mother [sources incl. Chinaberry, amazon] If you think that any mother who ever, even for a minute, places her own needs above those of her child, is a monster, then you need this book. (Then again, if you think that, you'll be raising a self-centered monster who will never respect any need of their mother's, and you probably need to see a therapist!) It may be useful if you feel guilty when you choose to meet your own needs, however important, at the expense of your child's, however trivial. Contains lots of made-up conversations with 'Kali', the 'dark goddess', which strike a jarringly self-conscious note. - Paula Burch Lawrence Balter: Child Sense [OOP; try your library or amazon] ...what are your favorite books on child development? I have lots, but the one I always return to is _Child Sense_ by Lawrence Balter. Anywone else have a favorite? My LEAST favorite is Burton White, who seems to think that children spaced together closer than three years will be totally *ruined*. Very irritating! T. Berry Brazelton "On Becoming A Family" [sources incl. amazon] "Infants and Mothers" [sources incl. amazon] "Parents and Toddlers"[sources incl. amazon] "Working and Caring" [sources incl. amazon] "What Every Baby Knows" [sources incl. amazon] T. Berry Brazelton is the Dr. Spock of our generation and his books could well be considered required reading. He also hosts a show on Lifetime called "What Every Baby Knows". Infants and Mothers and Parents and Toddlers are both broken up into personal stories about "typical" people culled from his pediatric practice. In the Infants book, there are three infants, "quiet", "average", and "active" who are tracked in their development month by month. In Toddlers, different children are studied at each phase of toddlerhood. I bought a book by T. Berry Brazelton called something like "Working and Caring" about integrating work and caring for an infant. I think it is a great book. I found it very reassuring to read when I was trying to dance the line between the people who thought my schedue for returning to work was bad for my child and the people who thought I was forever giving up my career if I took off the time I had planned. "Infants and Mothers" is a very interesting book, and gives a month-by-month account of the lives of three babies: average, quiet and active. The great virtue of this book is that it gives a very complete picture of the lives of three very different infants, all of whom are completely "normal." It gives the reader a greater appreciation for the developmental timetable that each baby follows, and thus, an appreciation for the uniqueness of each baby. Highly recommended for nervous first parents--it's very reassuring. I found Brazleton's books fun to read, but not worth buying since I wasn't apt to re-read them. The public library is made for books like this! -- Paula Burch Louise Bates Ames, Ph.D., Frances L. Ilg, M.D.:"Your X Year Old" (X = One, Two, Three, etc. - this is a series) Publisher: Gesell Institute of Human Development Your One-Year-Old : The Fun-Loving, Fussy 12-To 24-Month-Old [sources incl. amazon] Your 2 Year Old : Terrible or Tender [sources incl. amazon] Your Three Year Old : Friend or Enemy [sources incl. amazon] Your Four-Year-Old : Wild and Wonderful [sources incl. amazon] Your 5 Year Old : Sunny and Serene [sources incl. amazon] Ames and Ilg was used in my parenting class and, so far, my children have been 100% in line with their stages of development. A wonderful book series for helping to decide, "have I ruined my child or is this normal development" and the subsequent "should I fight this or suffer through it". Lots of questions on this net are oth the type "My X yr old is doing this - is it normal?" I've been enjoying "Your Three Year Old" by Ames & Ilg. There is a whole series of these, going up to the preteen years. "your Two Year Old was really on target for me last year. Your Three Year Old isn't quite as close as the other one, but still has given me a lot of useful insights into David's current behaviors. These books aren't big with practical tips on how to deal with specific behaviors, but I find just identifying the behavior pattern to be very helpful. I can then deal with it with my repertoire of skills from other sources. Here's a quote I love from this book "Parents sometimes fear that their Three and a half year old is deaf when he so often disregards what is being said to him." How true! Fraiberg: "The Magic Years: Understanding the problems of early childhood" [sources incl. amazon] A classic, and very good reading, too. Covers birth to 5 years, though she basically zips through 0-6 months in a flash. The main virtue of this book, IMHO, was that she explains the developmental stage that the child is going through so that parents can better understand that the child is DRIVEN to do something, and that the behavior is not part of a plan to drive the parents crazy. Marge Kennedy: 50 ways to bring out the smarts in your kid: how to provide inspiration and guidance to enhance children's learning in every way. (children 3 and up) [sources incl. amazon] |