Parents' Guide to Raising Kids Who Love to Learn: Infants to Grade School (Children's Television Workshop Family Living Series) - Softcover

ea. vol: Prentice Hall Pr. Jun. 1989. c.256p. index. pap. $9.95. child rearing If these first two titles are any indication, then the "Children's Television Workshop Living Series" will fulfill its aim of presenting information that parents need to make sound decisions. Prepared with the guidance of top experts in their respective fields, both books offer strategies for finding solutions appropriate for individual family situations. Raising Kids Who Love To Learn guides parents through the bewildering array of choices regarding child rearing. It stresses childhood as a stage of life, provides information on the basics of growth and development, suggests projects that enrich the parent/child relationship and help the development of the child's social, verbal, and physical skills. The authors offer advice on choosing a preschool, preparing children for school, and helping them succeed in school. Feeding Your Kids Right is a basic, practical guide to good nutrition. It provides guidance on the purchase and presentation of nutritious food, discusses specific dietary needs of children at various ages, and offers suggestions to engender positive attitudes toward eating. Social aspects of eating--e.g., table manners, picky eaters--as well as the prevention and treatment of food-related hazards complete the topics covered. Excellent, well-written, and practical guides.
- Jodith Janes, Univ. Hosp. of Cleveland
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Part of a new Family Living series from the Children's Television Workshop, this volume consists largely of adaptations or excerpts from Sesame Street Magazine Parents' Guide. The brisk, readable style cannot mask a deficiency of content, as chapter after chapter summarizes existing wisdom on how children learn and offers advice that is often so obvious as to be virtually meaningless ("Children . . . need age-appropriate playthings"; "be prompt" on the first day of school). On some occasions the authors seem oblivious to what really goes on in a household with small kids (what parent has time to "read to your child while you're in the kitchen waiting for the spaghetti water to boil"). Still, there are insightful sections, such as the discussion of how to answer the question "where does rain come from?" (Instead of providing a scientific answer that may be difficult for their child to understand, parents are urged to ask, "Why do you think it rains?" then correct any misperceptions and tender comments that are relevant to the child's concerns.) Also included are lists of education and parent-advocacy organizations and recommended books for parents and children. Literary Guild selection.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.