Resources
- 8 Things to Remember about Child Development: HarvardBuilding on a well-established knowledge base more than half a century in the making, recent advances in the science of early childhood development and its underlying biology provide a deeper understanding that can inform and improve existing policy and practice, as well as help generate new ways of thinking about solutions. In this important list, featured in the From Best Practices to Breakthrough Impacts report, the Center on the Developing Child sets the record straight about some aspects of early child development.
- Child Development: MedlinePlusAs children grow older, they develop in several different ways. Child development includes physical, intellectual, social, and emotional changes.
- Child Development Basics: CDCThe early years of a child’s life are very important for his or her health and development. Healthy development means that children of all abilities, including those with special health care needs, are able to grow up where their social, emotional and educational needs are met. Having a safe and loving home and spending time with family―playing, singing, reading, and talking―are very important. Proper nutrition, exercise, and sleep also can make a big difference.
- Early Childhood Development and Learning: EDCImproving early learning opportunities and outcomes.
Research & Reference
- Child Development: Credo ReferenceA Credo Reference landing page on child development. This page includes links to reference works, journal articles, and a mind map.
- Child Development: ScienceDirectA ScienceDirect landing page on child development.
Streaming Media
- Being and Becoming: Schooling and Child DevelopmentBeing and Becoming explores the theme of trusting children and their development, and invites us to question our learning paradigms and options.
- Child Development BasicsA fun way to cover the stages of child development! • When can a baby grab a rattle? • When are most kids potty trained? • Can you play catch with a three-year-old? • How do you keep a four-year old happy?
- Child Development TheoristsThe changes that happen to humans in the first two decades of life are astonishing—from being helpless newborns to independent adults. The study of that journey—with its physical, intellectual, social, and emotional changes—is called child development theory. Theories in child development have changed the way that parents raise their children and the way teachers teach those children.
Perspectives
The Gardener and the Carpenter
One of the world's leading child psychologists shatters the myth of "good parenting" Caring deeply about our children is part of what makes us human. Yet the thing we call "parenting" is a surprisingly new invention. In the past thirty years, the concept of parenting and the multibillion dollar industry surrounding it have transformed child care into obsessive, controlling, and goal-oriented labor intended to create a particular kind of child and therefore a particular kind of adult. InTheGardener and the Carpenter, the pioneering developmental psychologist and philosopher Alison Gopnik argues that the familiar twenty-first-century picture of parents and children is profoundly wrong--it's not just based on bad science, it's bad for kids and parents, too. Drawing on the study of human evolution and her own cutting-edge scientific research into how children learn, Gopnik shows that although caring for children is profoundly important, it is not a matter of shaping them to turn out a particular way. Children are designed to be messy and unpredictable, playful and imaginative, and to be very different both from their parents and from each other. The variability and flexibility of childhood lets them innovate, create, and survive in an unpredictable world. "Parenting" won't make children learn--but caring parents let children learn by creating a secure, loving environment.
The Yes Brain
From the authors of The Whole-Brain Child and No-Drama Discipline, an indispensable guide to unlocking your child's innate capacity for resilience, compassion, and creativity. When facing contentious issues such as screen time, food choices, and bedtime, children often act out or shut down, responding with reactivity instead of receptivity. This is what New York Times bestselling authors Daniel J. Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson call a No Brain response. But our kids can be taught to approach life with openness and curiosity. When kids work from a Yes Brain, they're more willing to take chances and explore. They're more curious and imaginative. They're better at relationships and handling adversity. In The Yes Brain, the authors give parents skills, scripts, and activities to bring kids of all ages into the beneficial "yes" state. You'll learn * the four fundamentals of the Yes Brain--balance, resilience, insight, and empathy--and how to strengthen them * the key to knowing when kids need a gentle push out of a comfort zone vs. needing the "cushion" of safety and familiarity * strategies for navigating away from negative behavioral and emotional states (aggression and withdrawal) and expanding your child's capacity for positivity The Yes Brain is an essential tool for nurturing positive potential and keeping your child's inner spark glowing and growing strong. Praise for The Yes Brain "This unique and exciting book shows us how to help children embrace life with all of its challenges and thrive in the modern world. Integrating research from social development, clinical psychology, and neuroscience, it's a veritable treasure chest of parenting insights and techniques."--Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D., author of Mindset "I have never read a better, clearer explanation of the impact parenting can have on a child's brain and personality."--Michael Thompson, Ph.D. "Easily assimilated and informative, the book will help adults enable children to lead physically and emotionally satisfying and well-rounded lives filled with purpose and meaningful relationships. Edifying, easy-to-understand scientific research that shows the benefits that accrue when a child is encouraged to be inquisitive, spirited, and intrepid."--Kirkus Reviews
What to Expect the Second Year
Heidi Murkoff's What to Expect has delivered again. Announcing the arrival of a brand-new member of the What to Expect family: What to Expect the Second Year. The essential sequel to What to Expect the First Year, with 9.7 million copies in print, What to Expect the Second Year picks up the action at baby's first birthday, and takes parents through what can only be called "the wonder year"--12 jam-packed (and jam-smeared) months of memorable milestones (from first steps to first words, first scribbles to first friends), lightning-speed learning, endless explorations driven by insatiable curiosity. Not to mention a year of challenges, both for toddlers and the parents who love them, but don't always love their behaviors (picky eating, negativity, separation anxiety, bedtime battles, biting, and tantrums). Comprehensive, reassuring, empathetic, realistic, and practical, What to Expect the Second Year is filled with solutions, strategies, and plenty of parental pep talks. It helps parents decode the fascinating, complicated, sometimes maddening, always adorable little person last year's baby has become. From the first birthday to the second, this must-have book covers everything parents need to know in an easy-to-access, topic-by-topic format, with chapters on growth, feeding, sleeping, behaviors of every conceivable kind, discipline (including teaching right from wrong), and keeping a toddler healthy and safe as he or she takes on the world. There's a developmental time line of the second year plus special "milestone" boxes throughout that help parents keep track of their toddler's development. Thinking of traveling with tot in tow? There's a chapter for that, too.
The Montessori Toddler
Turn your home into a Montessori home--and become a more mindful, attentive, and easygoing parent. It's time to change the way we see toddlers. Using the principles developed by the educator Dr. Maria Montessori, Simone Davies shows how to turn life with a "terrible two" into a mutually rich and rewarding time of curiosity, learning, respect, and discovery. With hundreds of practical ideas for every aspect of living with a toddler, here are five principles for feeding your child's natural curiosity, from "Trust in the child" to "Fostering a sense of wonder." Step-by-step ways to cultivate daily routines with ease, like brushing teeth, toilet-training, dealing with siblings, losing the pacifier. Plus learn how to: Stay composed when your toddler is not and set limits with love and respect--without resorting to bribes or punishment Set up your home and get rid of the chaos Create Montessori activities that are just right for your one-to-three-year-old Raise an inquisitive learner who loves exploring the world around them See the world through your toddler's eyes and be surprised and delighted by their perspective Be your child's guide--and truly celebrate every stage
No Longer Little: Parenting Tweens with Grace and Hope
No one tells you what to expect. Your 9 year old that loves school suddenly takes 3 hours to get math done. Don't even ask about everything else. The 11 year old that loves to run errands now can t remember the one thing you told them to bring you long enough to get out of the room. And the 13 year old... EMOTIONAL TURMOIL Change your shirt before you leave, you tell your son, but he explodes. You don't care about me This is my favorite shirt You're always criticizing me Or, you walk in to find your daughter sobbing and ask, What s wrong, honey? I don t know she wails. They climb on an emotional rollercoaster and invite you to join them. Don t get a ticket for that ride. A TIME OF TRANSITION What s happening? They re changing The tweens or preteens, whatever you want to call it, are the beginning of the transition to adulthood. Hormones are flowing. Things are changing. Emotions are high. School is a struggle, all of a sudden. And spiritual questions pop up where there were none before. THE STAKES ARE HIGH Most parent-child relationships are broken during the tween years. When they are, the teens often just get worse and worse. If you can get through the preteen years with your relationship intact, though, the teen years tend to get better and better. Lay a foundation to make the teen years great HERE'S HELP Practical help. Real encouragement. Just what you need to cope with emotional meltdowns, motivate them to get school done, answer their spiritual questions, and most of all, protect your relationship with your eight to fourteen year olds. No Longer Little: Parenting Tweens with Grace and Hope Hal and Melanie Young, authors of Raising Real Men and My Beloved and My Friend, both awarded Christian Small Publishers Book of the Year, are your guides on this challenging journey through these critical years of parenting...so that the years to come get better and better.
Cribsheet
From the author of Expecting Better and The Family Firm, an economist's guide to the early years of parenting. "Both refreshing and useful. With so many parenting theories driving us all a bit batty, this is the type of book that we need to help calm things down." --LA Times "The book is jampacked with information, but it's also a delightful read because Oster is such a good writer." --NPR With Expecting Better, award-winning economist Emily Oster spotted a need in the pregnancy market for advice that gave women the information they needed to make the best decision for their own pregnancies. By digging into the data, Oster found that much of the conventional pregnancy wisdom was wrong. In Cribsheet, she now tackles an even greater challenge: decision-making in the early years of parenting. As any new parent knows, there is an abundance of often-conflicting advice hurled at you from doctors, family, friends, and strangers on the internet. From the earliest days, parents get the message that they must make certain choices around feeding, sleep, and schedule or all will be lost. There's a rule--or three--for everything. But the benefits of these choices can be overstated, and the trade-offs can be profound. How do you make your own best decision? Armed with the data, Oster finds that the conventional wisdom doesn't always hold up. She debunks myths around breastfeeding (not a panacea), sleep training (not so bad!), potty training (wait until they're ready or possibly bribe with M&Ms), language acquisition (early talkers aren't necessarily geniuses), and many other topics. She also shows parents how to think through freighted questions like if and how to go back to work, how to think about toddler discipline, and how to have a relationship and parent at the same time. Economics is the science of decision-making, and Cribsheet is a thinking parent's guide to the chaos and frequent misinformation of the early years. Emily Oster is a trained expert--and mom of two--who can empower us to make better, less fraught decisions--and stay sane in the years before preschool.
Achtung Baby
An Entertaining, Enlightening Look at the Art of Raising Self-Reliant, Independent Children Based on One American Mom's Experiences in Germany An NPR "Staff Pick" and One of the NPR Book Concierge's"Best Books of the Year" When Sara Zaske moved from Oregon to Berlin with her husband and toddler, she knew the transition would be challenging, especially when she became pregnant with her second child. She was surprised to discover that German parents give their children a great deal of freedom--much more than Americans. In Berlin, kids walk to school by themselves, ride the subway alone, cut food with sharp knives, and even play with fire. German parents did not share her fears, and their children were thriving.Was she doing the opposite of what she intended, which was to raise capable children? Why was parenting culture so different in the States? Through her own family's often funny experiences as well as interviews with other parents, teachers, and experts, Zaske shares the many unexpected parenting lessons she learned from living in Germany.Achtung Baby reveals that today's Germans know something that American parents don't (or have perhaps forgotten) about raising kids with "selbstandigkeit" (self-reliance), and provides practical examples American parents can use to give their own children the freedom they need to grow into responsible, independent adults.