Recognized internationally as one of the most important guides to childhood development ever written, this classic provides the information parents need to maximize a child's social and intellectual potential. Illustrated.

The most important guide to the early childhood development of infants and toddlers ever written, from expert Burton L. White. First published in 1975, The First Three Years of Life became an instant classic. Based on Burton White's thirty-seven years of observation and research, this detailed guide to the month-by-month mental, physical, social, and emotional development of infants and toddlers has supported and guided hundreds of thousands of parents. Now completely revised and updated, it contains the most accurate information and advice available on raising and nurturing the very young child. White gives parents real-world-tested advice on: * Creating a stimulating environment for your infant and toddler * Using effective, age-appropriate discipline techniques * How to handle sleep problems * What toys you should (and should not) buy * How to encourage healthy social development * How and when to toilet-train No parent who cares about a child's well-being can afford to be without this book.

Recommends practices conductive to educational development at each stage of the child's physical, cognitive, and social growth.

How ancient is father care of human infants and young children, and why did it emerge? Is it possible that father care arose among the ancestors of modern humans and became essential for survival? Or is it a recent, though variable, development? Is father care an evolved trait of Homo sapiens or is it a learned cultural behavior transmitted across generations in some societies but not others? In this important study, Frank L’Engle Williams examines the anthropological record for evidence of the social behaviors associated with paternity, suggesting that ample evidence exists for the importance of such behaviors for infant survival. Focusing on the first three postnatal years, he considers the implications of father care—both in the fossil record and in more recent cross-cultural research—for the development of such distinctively human traits as bipedalism, extensive brain growth, language, and socialization. He also reviews the rituals by which many human societies construct and reinforce the meanings of socially recognized fatherhood. Father care was adaptive within the context of the parental pair bond and shaped how infants developed socially and biologically. The initial imprinting of socially recognized fathers during the first few postnatal years may have sustained culturally sanctioned indirect care such as provisioning and protection of dependents for nearly two decades thereafter. In modern humans, this three-year window is critical to father-child bonding. By increasing the survival of children in the past, present, and quite possibly the future, father care may be a driving force in the biological and cultural evolution of Homo sapiens.

Written by the eminent child psychologist Dr. Nina R. Lief with her colleagues at the Early Childhood Development Center, Mary Ellen Fahs and Rebecca Thomas, The First Three Years of Life is a comprehensive guidebook for parenting a young child. The reader learns what to expect as the child develops as well as coping skills that every parent needs. Emotional and social aspects of child development and the importance of the parent-child relationship are stressed. The book is organized in a question and answer format covering each stage in the child's life from birth to age three. The questions are from real parents and are answered in down-to-earth language that will make this a basic reference for every young family. -- Topics covered include: Babies' Individual Differences, Separation Anxiety, Teething, Crying, Toilet Training, Sleep Patterns, Parent's Time for Themselves, Nursery School, Socializing, Discipline and more -- Illustrated with numerous black-and-white diagrams, sketches, and photos