Welcome to Your Child's Brain

July 11, 2011
Neuroscientists Aamodt and Wang take a fresh approach to brain research, focusing on how the brain develops from infancy to young adulthood, debunking myths, and offering parents practical tips along the way. The text is organized into seven major parts that examine such areas as how the brain works, the "serious business" of play, and the brain at school. The authors reveal that the brain builds largely through automatic programs and adapts to the environment, noting that most kids are like "dandelions"âthey will develop on schedule as long as circumstances are acceptable if not perfect. This takes some pressure off parents, but "Genes and environment are irrevocably entangled throughout your child's life." And though the brain develops according to its own schedule, there are practical steps parents can make to enhance its progress: for instance, though vision develops at its own pace, outdoor play improves it; sports and physical activity benefit the developing brain, and mothers who eat fish while pregnant give their baby's brain a head start. The authors are consummate myth busters: birth order, research reveals, has little impact on personality, and the left-brain is as emotionally charged as the right. In this info-packed text, Aamodt and Wang offer some familiar advice (e.g., no videos for children under two) as well as some thought-provoking revelations.