Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Biomental Child Development: Perspectives on Psychology and Parenting

Biomental Child Development: Perspectives on Psychology and Parenting coins the novel term "biomental" to denote the interaction of the actual and gradually integrating body and mind from conception through development over infancy, childhood, and adolescence. This innovative approach presents a vision that recasts descriptions and explanations of child development to capture the inter-connectedness of the physical and the emotional experience. This book provides the reader with a basic understanding of normal or typical child, adolescent, and adult psychology that is life-positive and energetic. Concrete details-charted chronologically and thematically-of development are outlined stressing both their overlapping biological and psychological significance. In addition to a clear and succinct overview of child development in one user-friendly volume, concrete parenting strategies and numerous examples are given throughout. Time tested theories, modern problems (for example, "bullying" and toxic electronic media use), and pragmatic parenting techniques are integrated, using current findings from psychology, psychiatry, and neuroscience. Parents, grandparents, and other caregivers will learn techniques to help parents achieve a working understanding of child development and effective skills for each stage. The biomental perspective emphasizes that positive parenting encompasses a diversification of styles that characterize differences among both children and caregivers. Biomental Child Development highlights children's emotional development and the all too often neglected role of fathers. Bold attention is given to considerations of gender, especially fathers as males, as well as the emotions of envy, greed, jealousy, and competitiveness as they influence development and parenting. How these apparently negative emotions may be recognized and used constructively to enhance development is discussed in detail. This new understanding and approach to child development and parenting is a welcome addition to the resources on parenting currently available. Review To empower adults to engage in effective interactions to help children flourish, the author, in six lengthy chapters, provides in-depth and extensive knowledge of findings in many areas of child development. Crucial topics include the importance of nurturing secure, rather than insecure, attachment in infancy and childhood, and descriptions of children's temperament, personality, and intellectual development. . . . Educators will appreciate his emphasis on the need for parental support for developing a child's executive skills, which include forward planning, multitasking, capacity to inhibit distractors, self-regulation skills, error correction, cognitive flexibility, and organization skills. ... The breadth of coverage across all child ages makes this book useful for an agency to have as a resource book to train new staff. ... The book will be most useful for practitioners who work to sustain fragile families or who carry out parenting programs in clinics for parents with strong stresses (Honig, 2010). Providers who work with divorced, still hostile, parents whose children are doing poorly in school and/or in emotional relationships with peers or who work with dysfunctional parents whose abusive or neglectful behaviors have already alerted social service personnel will find a treasure trove of insightful ideas in this book. The rich descriptions of child development information summarized in this volume can serve professionals well as a splendid 'refresher course' to help regalvanize them for their work to support optimal family functioning with children. The information provided will remind them of developmental norms from earliest infancy and will refresh their knowledge of milestones and the range of variations among children. ... The author's ideas can galvanize providers' own creativity in devising tools and techniques for helping each parent serv