Your School-Age Child

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Kutner's third entry in his four-part Parent & Child series places him firmly in the pantheon occupied by Spock, Brazelton, and Leach. A psychologist, Kutner writes a monthly child development column for Parents magazine and was "Parent and Child" columnist for the New York Times. He focuses here on the elementary-school years, which represent, "the first time in many families that a social institution has such profound effect on the parent-child relationship." In 10 succinct chapters, he covers subjects ranging from first-day-of-school jitters to peer pressure, concluding each section with enlightening, common-sense tips on dealing with specific problems. This, for example, on handling school-age children's growing demands for privacy: "Talk about privacy as a privilege, not a right.... Remind your children that even you have people-such as your employer and the Internal Revenue Service-checking whether you really did what you said you did." Kutner's writing is straightforward, warm, tuned in to both sides of the parent-child dynamic and enlivened by well placed, well aimed examples and often funny anecdotes. Parents encountering this series for the first time will wish they had known about Pregnancy and Your Baby's First Year and Toddlers and Preschoolers. (Apr.)