Books: Welcome to Your Child’s Brain

Welcome to Your Child’s Brain is the latest on my booklist for parents on “scientific parenting”. Other notable books on the reading list (if you haven’t already read them) are “The Science of Parenting“, “Nurture Shock” and “Brain Rules for Baby“. There is a current version of Welcome to Your Child’s Brain available already, but if you want to wait for the latest edition, you can preorder it from The Bookdepository now.

What is it about?

Written by two neuroscientists, Welcome to Your Child’s Brain is a book about child development based on science. Similar to Nurture Shock and Brain Rules for Baby, this book isn’t an A-Z on parenting but rather a book about specific topics on child development based on science. It covers a range of hot topics thare are sure to catch the interest of most parents. Check out what’s on the contents page:

• Chapter 1: The 5 Hidden Talents of Your Baby’s Brain
• Chapter 2: In the Beginning – Prenatal Development
• Chapter 3: Baby, You were Born to Learn (in support of early learning?)
• Chapter 4: Beyond Nature vs Nurture (which appear to touch on a topic I recently explored about genetic conditioning)
• Chapter 5: Once in a Lifetime – Sensitive Periods (sounds an awful lot like the sensitive periods that Maria Montessori talks about in the Montessori Method)
• Chapter 6: Born Linguists (sounds like Patricia Kuhl’s research on Babies being linguistic geniuses)
• Chapter 7: Beautiful Dreamer (some interesting things about sleep and dreams – we always used to wonder what babies dream about, especially when newborns get nightmares)
• Chapter 8: It’s a Girl! Gender Differences
• Chapter 9: Adolescence – It’s not Just About Sex
• Chapter 10: Learning to See (more on how outdoor play improves vision)
• Chapter 11: Connect with Your Baby Through Hearing and Touch
• Chapter 12: Eat Dessert First – Flavour Preferences (tips for parents of picky eaters and children who won’t eat veggies?)
• Chapter 13: The Best Gift You Can Give – Self-Control (sounds like tools of the mind and the effect of imaginary play on executive function)
• Chapter 14: Playing for Keeps
• Chapter 15: Moving the Brain and Body Along
• Chapter 16: Electronic Entertainment and Multi-tasking Myth
• Chapter 17: Nice to Meet You – Temperament
• Chapter 18: Emotions in the Driver’s Seat
• Chapter 19: Empathy and Theory of Mind
• Chapter 20: Playing Nicely with Others
• Chapter 21: Starting to Write the Life Story
• Chapter 22: Learning to Solve Problems
• Chapter 23: Take it from the Top – Music
• Chapter 24: Go Figure – Learning about Math
• Chapter 25: The Many Roads to Reading
• Chapter 26: Hang in there Baby – Stress and Resilience
• Chapter 27: Mind-Blindness – Autism
• Chapter 28: Old Genes Meet the Modern World – ADHD
• Chapter 29: Catch Your Child Being Good – Behaviour Modification
• Chapter 30: A Tough Road to Travel – Growing up in Poverty

You can get a preview into the book on Amazon.

Read the review from Bloomsbury on the previous edition of Welcome to Your Baby’s Brain.

For more from Sandra Aamodt and Sam Wang (the authors of Welcome to Your Child’s Brain), check out their blog – Welcome to Your Brain (which is incidently the title of another book they wrote that parents might be interested to read for their own benefit).

Related articles:

• New York Times Sunday Review – “Teaching Self-Control, the American Way“
• New York Times Sunday Review – “Delay Kindergarten at Your Child’s Peril“