Proactive Parenting: Guiding Your Child from Two to Six

A great book that covers relationships with your child along with child development basics. Clearly written and based on years of experience and data. It covers a great range of topics, including ones often left out of general parenting books, like issues of physical contact among preschoolers (what's appropriate, what's not) or friendships. They have great suggested reading lists at the end of each chapter for parents who want to delve deeper into any one topic. It's easy to choose the chapters you are most interested in and read those first. It's become one of the books I recommend to people, which is rare for me. I have read a lot of child development and parenting books and this is one of the best.

This book has easily become one of my absolute favorite parenting books. That is saying a lot, as child development is my passion, and I have read nearly everything! This is much more than just a parenting book. It is a valuable resource for parents to learn more about their children's development, and how to grow together as families.The authors do not water down the content, as many other "fluff" parenting books do. It is packed with valuable information and suggestions about how to parent your particular child. I appreciate how the book made me evaluate my parenting style and expectations versus my children's personalities. My son, in particular, has a personality that sometimes makes me cringe, because it is so different from my own at times. This book really makes you think!The format is not exactly easy to just scan, pick, and choose. It is straight forward, with many little narratives and examples of various family issues and ways they can be handled. Many of the more complex issues are covered, too, such as "spirited" children, overly anxious kids, family conflicts, parent/child personality clashes, etc. If you are seeking to improve communication with your children and become a more effective parent, I highly recommend this book!