TEENS PARENTING--THE CHALLENGE OF TODDLERS

An entry in the ``Teens Parenting'' series, focusing on children ages one through three, with family profiles setting the stage for developmentally appropriate activities. Presenting the period from eight months to two years as a time of high risk, Lindsay (Discipline from Birth to Three, p. 1090) emphasizes that lots of learning must take place then. Her enchantment with toddlers' new mobility comes out in wonderfully expressive nouns and verbs: the toddler is a ``whirlwind little person who scoots everywhere.'' Subjects include bedtime rituals, health concerns, temper tantrums, the purpose of play and the place of the imagination, involvement and noninvolvement of fathers, and mealtime pleasures and difficulties. Throughout, Lindsay delineates what's possible and what's not: e.g., toddlers can't color ``in the lines'' (and shouldn't have stifling coloring books anyway). Surprisingly, there's no section on day care, but the information that is here is covered with an evenhanded, multicultural set of perspectives. Sensible advice in a solidly useful handbook. Illustrated with candid b&w photos. Bibliography; index. (Nonfiction. 14+)