Recommended Books

What Babies Say Before They Can Talk: The Nine Signals Infants Use to Express Their Feelings, by Paul C. Holinger

Dr. Holinger provides a wealth of information and an indispensable foundation for understanding babies' feelings and behavior. The goal of the book is to help parents enhance their infants' potential, prevent problems, and raise happy, healthy, responsible children.

The Magic Years: Understanding and Handling the Problems of Early Childhood, by Selma H. Fraiberg

Though this book is almost 40 years old, it's a "must read" for all parents. The Magic Years endures as a wonderful way of looking at how kids think, and why they act the way they do based on their cognitive and emotional abilities.

Playful Parenting, by Laurence Cohen

Parenting with a playful attitude and humor is the best parenting — and this book shows you how to do it. Play is the combination of the positive feelings of interest, enjoyment, and surprise, and these are the feelings one wants.

97 Ways to Make A Baby Laugh, by Jack Moore

Interaction with your baby in all ways furthers the development of the parent-child relationship. And laughter is one of the best ways your baby can engage with you.

The Philosophical Baby: What Children's Minds Tell Us About Truth, Love, and the Meaning of Life, by Alison Gopnik

For parents, having a baby is one of the most profound and fascinating experiences of their lives. Now philosophers and scientists are coming to an equal level of awe about babies, transforming our understanding of the babies’ worlds and expanding a deeper appreciation of the role of parents.

The Scientist in the Crib: What Early Learning Tells Us About the Mind, by Alison Gopnik

The book is a fascinating tale of the process of early learning and what that tells us about the mind — and articulates how small infants and children learn. A must have for parents’ libraries.

Real Boys: Rescuing Our Sons from the Myths of Boyhood, by Willliam Pollack

Dr. Pollack shows us how boys are taught to deny their feelings, thereby disconnecting from their internal true selves. He demonstrates how we can reverse this trend and help boys give voice to their feelings and go on to develop healthier and happier lives.

Coloring Outside the Lines, by Roger Schank

Dr. Schank discusses new perspectives on education and learning. He suggests these ideas can help children become more creative, curious, verbal, and ambitious.

Maturational Processes and the Facilitating Environment: Studies in the Theory of Emotional Development, by D. W. Winnicott

Though a bit on the academic side, this collection of Winnicott's papers divided between "child development" and "theory and practice" is an invaluable read full of insight about child development.

Early Literacy (Developing Child), by Joan Brooks McLane

The development of language in a baby is an exciting process, providing a foundation for the child’s development into literacy. This book is especially valuable in pointing out the importance of relationships in early literacy developments. As children play with markers on paper and listen to stories being read aloud, they begin to discover the uses of words and how to communicate.

Affect Imagery Consciousness. Volume III. The Negative Affects: Anger and Fear, by Silvan S. Tomkins

In this book, Tomkins gives us the best model we have thus far about what feelings are and how they work. He describes the built-in feelings with which we are all born, and he shows how these feelings develop into our complex adult emotional lives.

Guidance for Effective Discipline. Pediatrics 101: 723-728 (1998)., by American Academy of Pediatrics- Committee on Psychosocial Aspects and Family Health

Corporal Punishment of Children: A Human Rights Violation (2006). Ardsley NY: Transnational Publishers, Inc. , by SH Bitensky

Report on Physical Punishment in the United States: What Research Tells Us About Its Effects on Children (2008). Columbus OH: Center for Effective Discipline. , by ET Gershoff

Beating the Devil Out of Them: Physical Punishment in American Families (Second Edition). Piscataway NJ: Transaction Publishers (2001). , by MA Strauss

The Interpersonal World of the Infant. New York: Basic Books, 1985.

, by Daniel N. Stern

 

This pioneering publication by Daniel Stern, M.D. led to profound changes in our conceptualizations of infant and child development and parent-child relationships.  It is one of the most important books ever written on child development.

The Interpersonal World of the Infant. New York: Basic Books, 1985.

, by Daniel N. Stern

 

This pioneering publication by Daniel Stern, M.D. led to profound changes in our conceptualizations of infant and child development and parent-child relationships.  It is one of the most important books ever written on child development.

Your Inner Fish:
A Journey Into The 3.5 Billion-Year History of the Human Body. New York: Pantheon Books, 2008, by Neil Shubin

A stunning book on evolution by the provost of Chicago’s Field Museum.  At least treat yourself to reading the first chapter.
 
Evolution helps us understand the development of our current emotional life.  Next month, we will tackle Charles Darwin and Paul Ekman.

Shame and Pride: Affect, Sex, and the Birth of The Self.
New York: W.W. Norton, 1992.

, by Donald L. Nathanson


 

This marvelous book explores the role of feelings in the formation of the personality. Don Nathanson focuses especially on the function of shame, how it works, and why shame is so important.