Parenting from 2 - 6: Supporting Optimal Development

Two to six year olds are in a uniquely formative period of human life. They absorb everything in their environment and use it all to create their personalities and abilities for a lifetime. Many parents worry about 'problem behaviors' such as defiance, moodiness, picky eating, poor speech, emotional outbursts, and many others. Hundreds of books deal with all kinds of behaviors, but often fail to help parents make truly positive changes. Developmental issues usually mean a young child is not getting what they need from their environment. Before focusing on behaviors, parents should evaluate their child's overall environment for development. Problems usually are not with the child. In more optimal environments, problem behaviors often disappear. This happens in Montessori preschools every day, simply because the children are spending part of each day in an environment designed to support their natural development. Parents can easily create better environments for their children at home. When they do this, problem behaviors usually subside.Today's children all too often do not have environments that support optimal development in the vital early years. Excessive exposure to television and video games, a lack of movement, poor nutrition, a lack of parental time and affection, little opportunity to develop independence skills, no time in nature, and no access to quality learning materials and activities all result in children who do not reach their full potential. This is a situation parents are in a perfect position to fix, without a degree in child development or great expense.This book explores every aspect of creating an optimal environment for child development at home. It offers parents a conceptual framework for understanding early childhood development; and hundreds of concrete steps to take that will create an optimal environment for helping their children realize their true capacities and become self-confident, happy people.For a complete listing of John Bowman's early learning books for parents,