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A review by northstar
It's a Boy! Understanding Your Son's Development from Birth to Age 18 by Teresa Barker, Michael G. Thompson
5.0
Thompson is a clinical psychologist and he co-authored Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys. This more recent book takes parents of boys from infancy to adulthood and highlights developmental milestones and challenges for each age. I read the first three chapters, which take you up to school age, and plan to read the others as my boys grow (they are 2 and 4).
Each chapter explains the physical, social, attachment, cognitive, academic, emotional, moral and spiritual development that parents can expect from that age and stage. Thompson illustrates with examples of boys he knows or has observed and he offers suggestions for coping with typical behavior at each stage. He also is reassuring; most boys go through certain stages and most boys turn out fine. That is a comforting message after a long day with a couple of preschoolers!
The book is not a difficult read but the pages are laid out with a lot of sidebars and so you have to flip back and forth, and I was not always sure why certain things needed to be in sidebars and not in the text. But this is a minor gripe for a book that I found altogether useful and informative.
Each chapter explains the physical, social, attachment, cognitive, academic, emotional, moral and spiritual development that parents can expect from that age and stage. Thompson illustrates with examples of boys he knows or has observed and he offers suggestions for coping with typical behavior at each stage. He also is reassuring; most boys go through certain stages and most boys turn out fine. That is a comforting message after a long day with a couple of preschoolers!
The book is not a difficult read but the pages are laid out with a lot of sidebars and so you have to flip back and forth, and I was not always sure why certain things needed to be in sidebars and not in the text. But this is a minor gripe for a book that I found altogether useful and informative.