Parenting with Reason: Evidence-Based Approaches to Parenting Dilemmas

Parenting with Reason cuts through the masses of often confusing and contradictory advice found in parenting self-help books to provide a rich common-sense manual on evidence-based parenting. Grounded in the best research available, it provides parents with the evidence to back up the tough parenting decisions that they face. The authors, who are parents themselves, bring together their expert knowledge in such areas as child intellectual and language development, childhood psychological problems and child temperament development, to look at such questions as: can immunisations lead to autism?; how can I get my baby to sleep through the night?; and, what can I do to stimulate my child's brain development? The authors de-bunk common myths about parenting, such as the notion that a healthy baby needs to be able to breastfeed at will throughout the night, or the idea that children who are adopted need specialised counselling. They also examine such issues as how media violence affects childrens behaviour, how a parents emotional disorder affects a child, what the scientific evidence is for and against circumcision of young boys, and how divorce and adoption affect a childs development. Written in an accessible, entertaining tone the book is ideal reading for new or prospective parents. The research is grounded in objective, scientific evidence which paediatricians and family health providers will also be able to utilize and endorse.