Product reviews

Sensible, sensitive and clear guidance but really a book that encourages parents to cut out the sage middleman or woman and to follow their own instincts.

Really enjoyed reading this book. Unlike other parenting experts who seem to want to impose their approach to child-rearing on the reader, Tanya Byron is much more sensitive to the individuality of children and parents. I particularly liked her warm defence of spirited children and her advice that we shouldn't worry so much about what other people think about our children's behaviour.

Her calm and reasoned advice is a tonic.

Finally a parenting book that doesn't reduce life to a set of "rules", but encourages you to understand and respond more instinctively to your child and their behaviour - and differentiate between the two. Drawing on her clinical psychology background, but explaining key ideas in lay(wo)man's terms, this doesn't dumb-down, but helps explain developmental stages and how these impact on your child's behaviour. A book to hang on to and use for reference as 'challenges' crop up.