The Hurried Child (25th anniversary edition)

The Power of Play

Learning What Comes Naturally

David Elkind

In modern childhood, free, unstructured play time is being replaced more and more by academics, lessons, competitive sports, and passive, electronic entertainment. While parents may worry that their children will be at a disadvantage if they are not engaged in constant, explicit learning or using the latest "educational" games, David Elkind's The Power of Play reassures us that unscheduled imaginative play goes far in preparing children for academic and social success. Through expert analysis of the research and powerful situational examples, Elkind shows that, indeed, creative spontaneous activity best sets the stage for academic learning in the first place: Children learn mutual respect and cooperation through role-playing and the negotiation of rules, which in turn prepare them for successful classroom learning; in simply playing with rocks, for example, a child could discover properties of counting and shapes that are the underpinnings of math; even a toddler's babbling is a necessary precursor to the acquisition of language. An important contribution to the literature about how children learn, The Power of Play suggests ways to restore play's respected place in children's lives, at home, at school, and in the larger community. In defense of unstructured "down time," it encourages parents to trust their instincts and resist the promise of the wide and dubious array of educational products on the market geared to youngsters.

The Hurried Child

David Elkind

With the first edition of The Hurried Child, David Elkind emerged as the voice of parenting reason, calling our attention to the crippling effects of hurrying our children through life. He showed that by blurring the boundaries of what is age appropriate, by expecting--or imposing--too much too soon, we force our kids to grow up too fast, to mimic adult sophistication while secretly yearning for innocence. In the more than two decades since this book first appeared, new generations of parents have inadvertently stepped up the assault on childhood, in the media, in schools, and at home. In the third edition of this classic (2001), Dr. Elkind provided a detailed, up-to-the-minute look at the Internet, classroom culture, school violence, movies, television, and a growing societal incivility to show parents and teachers where hurrying occurs and why. And as before, he offered parents and teachers insight, advice, and hope for encouraging healthy development while protecting the joy and freedom of childhood. In this twenty-fifth anniversary edition of the book, Dr. Elkind delivers important new commentary to put a quarter century of trends and change into perspective for parents today.

Miseducation

PRESCHOOLERS AT RISK

David Elkind

David Elkind’s new book is designed to help parents avoid the miseducation of young children that is on the increase today. Across the country—in schools and in homes—educational programs intended for school-age children are being misappropriated for the instruction of preschoolers. Books, lectures, and the media propagate the idea that only a “superkid” can grow up to compete successfully in the adult world—thereby encouraging parents to teach infants and young children academic and athletic skills. Yet, there is considerable evidence that early instruction can do lasting harm—that young children subjected to this kind of pressure are, in fact, at psychological and physical risk. Dr. Elkind shows us the very real difference between the mind of a preschool child (how it works) and that of a school-age child. He makes clear how much young children can and do learn when they are presented with developmentally appropriate parenting practices and education. He shows us how healthy education supports and encourages the spontaneous learning process through which young children explore and understand their immediate world, and how miseducation ignores it, attempting to teach the wrong things at the wrong time. And, in turn, we see how early miseducation can cause permanent damage to a child’s self-esteem, the loss of the positive attitude a child needs for learning the blocking of natural gifts and potential talents. Finally, Dr. Elkind discusses what parents should look for when deciding upon the initial stages of their children’s education and what preschool programs are the most considerate of the individual child. In a special section, he answers the most common questions he’s heard from parents.

Parenting on the Go

Birth to Six, A to Z

David Elkind

Essential parenting advice from one of today's leading psychologists, at your fingertips. What is the most treasured resource for families with young children? Time. Between keeping house, shopping, doing chores, and getting everyone to work and school -- let alone fitting in family meals, fun activities, and much-needed downtime -- being a parent can require major feats of scheduling. While parents don't always have hours to pore over parenting books, they could use short, to-the-point advice on the challenges they confront every day. Now, for today's busy families, child-development expert and bestselling author David Elkind offers Parenting on the Go: an authoritative, accessible guide for parents of infants and young children. Elkind has long been praised for his timely, resonant responses to key child-rearing issues. Here, with characteristic insight and comforting sensibility, he offers practical answers to more than 100 common parenting questions, on topics from A to Z, including: Attention Deficit Disorders Back-to-School Blues Child-Proofing the Computer Empathy in Children Homework Manners and Morals Only Children Sibling Rivalry Time-Outs and much more. Praise for David Elkind "The Power of Play should be considered one of the primers for good parenting." -- Chicago Parent "[O]ffers excellent perspectives on children, parents, and culture . . . this powerful book is essential reading." -- Library Journal on The Hurried Child "Elkind . . . is a child-study specialist of eminent common sense . . . whom parents would do well to heed." -- Publishers Weekly

Children and Adolescents; Interpretive Essays on Jean Piaget

David Elkind

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The Power of Play

How Spontaneous, Imaginative Activities Lead to Happier, Healthier Children

David Elkind

Discusses the importance of unstructured play during childhood, featuring examples and evidence to support the author's contention that play is crucial to the physical, intellectual, social, and emotional development of children.