cover image Your Brain on Childhood: The Unexpected Side Effects of Classrooms, Ballparks, Family Rooms, and the Minivan

Your Brain on Childhood: The Unexpected Side Effects of Classrooms, Ballparks, Family Rooms, and the Minivan

Gabrielle Principe. Prometheus, $17 trade paper (275p) ISBN 978-1-61614-425-8

Ursinus College professor Principe (Children's Memory: Psychology and the Law) explores the downside of highly-scheduled childhoods in this cogent discussion on early brain development. The less parents plan for their children to do, the more their children will explore on their own and the more they will inevitably learn. Mothers and fathers ought to "forgo the infant bouncy seats and playpens and foreign language DVDs%E2%80%A6.take the batteries out of %E2%80%98smart' toys, limit the high technology, cut back on the organized sports, and leave plenty of time for freewheeling, make-believe, and messy play." Principe takes to task best-selling name-brand kids' programs and tools, such as Baby Einstein and LeapFrog, citing studies that debunk their overall benefits. Instead, she supports old-fashioned face time with siblings, parents, and other children. A developmental scientist and a mother herself, Principe speaks from professional as well as personal experience; her contentions are fair and levelheaded, her concern genuine. (Sept.)