Emotional Life of Families, Child Rearing & Development, Child & Infant Psychology & Psychiatry

Playground Politics

Name: Playground Politics
Author: Greenspan
ISBN: 9780201570809

by Greenspan

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Overview

The scary, exciting, dramatic, and often heart-rending experiences of grade school are a critical time in a child's life, with emotional milestones every bit as important as those of the first few years. Yet expert advice to parents usually stops short at the kindergarten door. Now, for the first time, Stanley Greenspan, M.D., one of this country's preeminent child development authorities, offers a "road map" to the stages of normal emotional development during the years from five to twelve. At first, still sheltered in the family, children are full of expansive and grand fantasies as well as fears: "the world is my oyster." Harsh "playground politics" change all this; buffeted by rivalries, pecking orders, triumphs, and rejections, children measure themselves in relation to classmates and peers. Then, between about ten and twelve, children begin to discover an inner center of gravity, an independent self-image that will be vital - and tested again - in adolescence. All these accomplishments, these expectations, this turmoil, of course, are brought home. With vivid stories and deep understanding, Dr. Greenspan helps parents deal with the typical issues that arise: aggression, rivalry, vulnerable self-esteem, late-blooming talents, learning difficulties, problems with reality and fantasy, and early sexuality. He offers the priceless skills and insight needed not only to keep on course, but to enjoy and marvel at these years of amazing inner growth.

In the first book designed to help parents understand, nurture, and live with their child--and their child's emotions--Greenspan looks at the major emotional milestones from age five to puberty and explains, with witty, vivid examples what children experience.

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Editorials

Denise Perry Donavin

Greenspan's title refers to the significant socialization that occurs in children ages 5-12. Covering this ground for infants and preschoolers in his earlier books, "First Feelings" and "The Essential Partnership", Greenspan has given parents and professionals good background on what to expect and how to recognize an individual child's differences as "windows of opportunity" rather than as problems. Offering specific examples, the author teaches adults how to help children cope with competition, charge their imaginations, harness aggression, and more. While focusing on emotional stages, Greenspan also cites the effects that burgeoning motor skills and other physical factors have on growing children. There is great insight here for parents who ponder how involved they should be when a child's self-definition starts being influenced by peers. Best of all, Greenspan does not offer time-wasting cures for unsettling situations but stresses how values and milestones can be met within normal family routines.