Common-sense and practical advice on raising young children by an expert in the field.
The Supernanny delivers a guidebook to aid parents with rambunctious toddlers.
With more than two decades of experience as a London nanny, Frost (Jo Frost’s Confident Baby Care, 2008, etc.) has seen just about every kind of behavioral issue a young child can produce and has developed certain strategies that effectively nip bad behavior in the bud. She offers parents of preschoolers and older children five basic guidelines to follow to ensure a child grows "into a happy, healthy, productive adult with good morals, healthy boundaries, and the ability to function well in the world." By meeting the physical, nutritional and sleep needs of a child, as well as providing an environment that encourages brain development and setting clear rules for family behavior, parents can eliminate most, if not all, potential problems. Using a method called SOS, Frost recommends a parent Step back from the situation at hand, Observe what is happening, and then Step in and administer the appropriate resolution. Using clear-cut examples that are common issues with young children, the author provides parents with ready-made solutions that have proven effective, eliminating the need to second-guess a decision. She covers sleeping problems (getting a child to sleep in his own bed or what to do when he cries in the night), food and eating issues (refusing to eat certain foods, establishing good table manners, going out in public with toddlers), the need for safety and interacting with other children. She also suggests activities to stimulate gross and fine motor skills and recommends basic good behavior rules that are the accepted norms for human interaction. A full chapter devoted to handling temper tantrums is an added bonus for parents in crisis mode.
Common-sense and practical advice on raising young children by an expert in the field.Pub Date: March 4, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-345-54238-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Jan. 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2014
A persuasive if belabored dissent from the traditional theory that people are motivated to learn by reward and punishment. Deci (Psychology/Univ. of Rochester) and Flaste (former science and health editor of the New York Times; editor of The New York Times Book of Science Literacy, 1990) argue that what most motivates people to learn, complete a task, or change behavior is a strengthening of their sense of acting autonomously, i.e., due regard for their needs, perspectives, and working style. In developing this point, the authors make some important distinctions, arguing, for example, that encouraging autonomy must at times be carefully balanced with limit-setting and that autonomy is not the same as individualism. (Individualists, they maintain, easily can become narcissistic ``loners'' while truly autonomous individuals balance self-fulfillment and interpersonal concerns.) Unfortunately, the authors nearly beat their point to death through repetition and resort to generalizations. Rarely do they cite quantitative results from the many psychology studies to which they refer, and they inadequately distinguish among the needs and pressures of various educational, industrial/corporate, social, and other settings. Most frustratingly, their book is limited largely to theory; they only vaguely limn some possible methods for helping individuals draw on and develop intrinsic creative energy rather than submitting to internal compulsions or extrinsic demands. At times, this results in conclusions that seem self-evident, e.g., ``People who are more autonomy oriented have higher self-esteem and are more self-actualized.'' Deci and Flaste thus develop a fairly good case for autonomy's key role in increasing motivation—particularly in helping people persist despite frustrations in trying to reach a goal—but their argument is blandly written, overstated, overgeneralized, and overlong.
Pub Date: June 14, 1995
ISBN: 0-399-14047-6
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1995
A dull examination of the idea that a certain set of symptoms commonly afflicts ambitious, talented young women growing up in societies that value males over females. Authors Silverstein (Psychology/CCNY; Fed Up, not reviewed) and Perlick (Psychology/Cornell Medical College) assert that they find evidence of this syndrome—which they dub ``anxious somatic depression''—in medical writings going back to the fourth century b.c.; in recent writings of anthropologists, psychologists, and psychiatrists; and in the biographies, correspondence, and diaries of some 40 prominent women (e.g., Queen Elizabeth I, Charlotte Brontâ, Indira Gandhi). In addition, they distributed questionnaires and psychological tests to some 2,000 young women whose responses confirmed their findings. They cite evidence that women seeking to achieve in areas traditionally reserved for men pay a heavy price: depression, anxiety, disordered eating, headaches, and other somatic and psychological symptoms. These first appear in adolescent girls who chafe under the societal limits placed on them as females and who are ambivalent toward their femininity, especially those growing up in a period of great change in women's roles and those with traditional mothers. In other times, the disorder was recognized as hysteria or neurasthenia, but today, the authors assert, it frequently goes undetected by physicians and therapists. Silverstein and Perlick's aim is to make the syndrome known so that it will be recognized and treated. Preventing it, they note, would require changing society so that women's ambitions are given equal opportunity and their roles equal respect. Although the authors have consigned some of their research data and discussions of methodology to appendixes in an attempt to make their writing accessible to the general reader, the effort largely fails. Professional colleagues may persevere, but the stilted, redundant prose may well discourage those less dedicated. (charts and diagrams)
Pub Date: June 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-19-506986-2
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Oxford Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1995
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
