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Great Kids
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Great Kids

Helping Your Baby and Child Develop the 10 Essential Qualities for a Healthy, Happy Life

Stanley I. Greenspan
Da Capo Press, 2007
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Editorial Rating

8

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Recommendation

The way you raise your child from infancy through adolescence determines his or her success in interacting with people and dealing with life situations. Every parent wants confident, sensitive, patient and morally sound children. But human beings are not born with these qualities; parents and caregivers are responsible for teaching children about them. Dr. Stanley Greenspan, an authority on infant and child development, describes each of 10 essential traits he believes children need, and advises parents how to instill and encourage them in their kids. His contentions are backed up by 30 years of practical experience. getAbstract recommends this book to parents who are looking for a guide through the complexities of child rearing.

Summary

The Stages of Life

Most parents want two things for their children: They hope their lives will be “happy and fulfilled,” with families of their own, and socially useful. The intellectual and emotional traits that children need in order to do this are not inherent, though; parents must teach them at each of these developmental stages:

  • “Awakening to the world” – Infants observe the world around them and experience it through each of their senses.
  • “Engaging and relating” – Starting with their first smile, children interact with others.
  • “Communicating” – They respond verbally to others.
  • “Problem solving and a sense of self” – Assimilating the information they gather from the people and things around them, children learn to act upon the world and to differentiate themselves from it.
  • “Language and ideas” – These enhance communication and understanding.
  • “Logic” – Making connections between ideas and emotions reveals the structures and patterns behind the behavior of people and things.

Teaching your children the following...

About the Author

Stanley I. Greenspan is a professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at George Washington University Medical School and the author or editor of more than 40 books.

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