Kirkus Reviews QR Code
THE PLEASURE OF THEIR COMPANY: How to Have More Fun With Your Children by Bank Street College of Education

THE PLEASURE OF THEIR COMPANY: How to Have More Fun With Your Children

By

Pub Date: June 5th, 1981
Publisher: Chilton

The collected wisdom of more than 20 experts from the Bank Street College of Education--and a cornucopia of suggestions for everything from planning birthday parties for seven-year-olds to pointing out skyscrapers, the better to develop aesthetic awareness. Grouped to reflect the pattern of a child's life--playthings and books, TV, living day-by-day, special relationships, big events--all of the selections evoke the joy of being with children, a welcome change in itself from the problem-orientation of so many parenting handbooks. Contemporary issues are not slighted--there are sections on snack foods, on sex-role-stereotyping, on single and working parents--but the tone is positive and the examples provided are both relevant and encouraging. Mostly, however, the focus is on the everyday aspects of living with young people (roughly age two-to-twelve), so there are chapters on pets (birds don't have to be walked!), on toys (ask the child what he's interested in), on make-believe (don't neglect the ridiculous), even on those notorious ""in-between-times"" (how about tic-tac-toe with a ten-year-old while waiting for the dentist?). Whenever appropriate, distinctions are made for children of different ages: introductory sections give an overview of child development, play, and communications; the sections on travel, for example, are sensibly divided in terms not only of distance but also of ages. A model of its kind--sure to help even experienced and confident parents enjoy their children much more fully.