Your Three-Year-Old: Friend or Enemy [Paperback]

Some figures are very interesting, such as figure I

My boy does not exactly fit this model in fugure I, because he is much more cooperative when he was three and half compared with when he was three years old. From one to three year old, my little boy is basically a talking monkey and I didn¡t see any stage of equilibrium until he was three and a half year old. The cycle should be at a bigger time span. Theory is respectable, but variety plays a bigger role. Figure 3 is also very interesting, it is about children¡s activity in space from one and a half to four year old. Older child can stay at the same spot for a longer time.

Many parents would read first at the thirteen techniques to make your child happy. I think the author¡s approach is quite considerate to the child¡s perspective and also kind of passive. He would suggest, don¡t take the child going out for meal, shopping or party and send the child to day care or babysitter, because the child behaves differently with parents. One technique that I do not agree is to use the TV, so the parents can do something else. I think TV is bad to the development of early childhood. Too much TV might cause serious personality development problem in the future. This technique section is too brief and general, therefore could not satisfied parents¡ need about how to manage their child wisely. Some answers (or manage techniques) are hidden on the pages, therefore it is very difficult to find the answers.

I don¡t like the stories from real life too much. His solutions often could not apply to my child, such as sleep or go potty problem. In story 16, the author does not suggest to let the child to learn the words or math too early. I don¡t agree with his point of view, because at this age, reading or counting is a game. To establish good nature reading habit one needs to start early. My child can recognize all the alphabets before he was two.

The best use of this book, is to read it from cover to cover, so one can understand this age well, and figure out how to take care of one¡s child by oneself. Knowing what is the step before knowing how. For really practical advises, I would suggest reading the parents magazine. It would tell you exactly what to do step by step. (For example, step one: calm down, step two: take your child out of the restaurant, step three ¡K)

In the end, I do learn some good ideas about how to live more peacefully with my child, such as using ¡§surprises¡, ¡§routine¡, ¡§plan¡, ¡§gift¡, ¡§secret¡, ¡§helping¡ or ¡§guessing¡. This book is truly enjoyable and worth reading though it is not perfect.