I recommend these books (Your ONE Year Old, Your TWO Year Old, Your THREE Year Old, Your FOUR Year Old, Your FIVE Year Old, Your SIX Year Old, Your SEVEN Year Old, Your EIGHT Year Old, Your NINE Year Old, Your TEN-to-FOURTEEN Year Old. These books were writtten by Louise Bates Ames, PhD, Fances L. Ilg, MD and Sidney M. Baker MD of the Gesell Institute of Human Development. They are NOT a "how to" book for parents -- but rather provide a perspective of life from the child's various ages. I found the books to... more info
A great way to gain insight into the world of your little one:
There is something gratifying about having your parenting instincts justified by official child experts. Most of parenting is a gut-based exercise but this sort of books gives parents a few tools and tactics to help deal with the age of two. The more we know about the mindset and developmental nuances of our children, the better we can be to them. This little book is full of interesting points about the psychology of a blossoming 2 year old. Concise and insightful. I totally recommend it!
Please, Please Update these books!:
I love this entire series, but they are SOOO dated (first published in the 70s!) Great advice is sprinkled in with references to mom staying at home while dad works, the MOTHER's responsibility to get the baby on schedule, etc. If they would only update this series with an eye towards two-career families or families in which the father takes a more active role, I think more readers would be able to digest this very good information without gritting their teeth at the outdated (and now sexist) references to... more info
30 Years out of Date:
The editors really need to revise this book to reflect modern times. It assumes every mom is a stay at home mom and every family has 2 heterosexual parents. The kicker was when it suggested that some moms get together with their kids and develop playgroups, and how they were starting to see it as a trend. Oh, I almost forgot about the suggestion about how moms should try putting their children in part time child care for the day to give themselves breaks. Again, this assumes every mom is a stay at home and... more info
