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The Beginning of a Beautiful Life: Understanding Your Baby’s Brain and Behavior (Popular Science, 2008)This book, published by the National Academy of Sciences Press, specifically explains the brain development and behavioral patterns of babies from the fetus to six years old. The authors are a unique couple—the husband is a renowned Swiss pediatrician and neuroscientist, and the wife is a renowned American education expert. This book, the culmination of their years of collaboration, combines cutting-edge knowledge of infant and toddler neuroscience with intuitive and accessible parenting tips. It’s difficult to pinpoint a book like this, perhaps because the better the book, the harder it is to pin it down to a specific category.
Judging from the tone, this book is mainly written for parents and seems to be classified as a “parenting book”. However, compared with the “parenting books” commonly found on the market, this book is full of brain neuroscience terms. Although readers can often refer to the “Parenting Process” in the middle of the book,
“Inside the Brain: The Nervous System and Its Periphery” is a book that requires considerable patience to read with reference to professional diagrams and glossaries. In addition, while typical parenting books usually explicitly tell parents what they should or shouldn’t do, many of the answers given in this book are often “maybe,” “there’s not enough solid evidence yet,” “it might be fun to try it,” etc., completely using the diplomatic rhetoric of a scientist! What’s more, typical parenting books often offer many “magic pills” to help parents teach their babies to become outstanding and successful people in the future, but this book seems to completely ignore the ardent desires of many parents. In the author’s view, it seems that raising children normally is good enough. As Harvard University psychology professor Jerome Kagan said in the preface, “The author suggests that parents should treat their children as friends, rather than as thoroughbred racehorses that will bring them honor and wealth one day in the future. I strongly agree with this.”
For the reasons stated above, I don’t think it is appropriate to classify it as a typical “parenting” book.
Harry Gurgany, MD, a professor of pediatric neurology, considers it “an outstanding neuroscience work, a groundbreaking text for the study of child development.” While it might seem like a theoretical neuroscience treatise, it’s actually less intimidating and accessible to the average reader. Parents, teachers, and readers interested in the neurodevelopment and behavioral patterns of children from the fetus to infant will find it deeply inspiring. Discussions of early childhood education often rely on common experience, often relishing the enviable experiences of successful caregivers and educational experts, or the educational hypotheses of romantic figures like Locke and Rousseau. This book repeatedly reminds us that, in the 21st century, we have made numerous new discoveries about the brain and nervous system from the fetus to infant, and possess a robust foundation of knowledge. It is entirely possible and necessary to rebuild a modern body of knowledge in this area to better understand and support children’s development.
As I read through this book, I was overwhelmed with the feeling that I hadn’t seen it earlier. It’s a shame my daughter is already over nine. I kept reminiscing about the time before she was six, and even about my own childhood, which brought a smile to my face. But I also felt a sense of regret that I had missed the time to observe and experiment with the book. Nevertheless, it has greatly satisfied my curiosity about this field.
Therefore, in summary, I think this book can be said to be a parenting textbook with a rigorous scientific spirit, an easy-to-understand monograph on infant neurology, and a very inspiring popular science book.
It’s important to note that while the book is easy to understand, the author often interrupts with humor, and the narrative is primarily based on hypothetical parenting cases, reading it through still requires considerable patience and courage. Fortunately, this is a trustworthy journey, and one that promises to be rewarding.
【Attachment】
For example, in Chapter 6 of the third part of the book, “Two Years Old,” there are two paragraphs describing the “movement and participation” of two-year-old children:
At Emily’s first birthday party, most of the little guests were still crawling around on the floor, though a few children could stand up or even take a few steps. Now they can all walk. Two-year-old Matthew opens doors and walks up and down stairs, one foot up, the other following, one hand holding onto the wall. Steven can already stand on tiptoe and grab the string of a balloon.
Muscle development enables children to walk, and the brain’s central nervous system begins to function. Even in early childhood, it takes a long time for movement from the brain to the fingers to develop. Signals are transmitted by the axons of motor neurons in the spinal cord, which are now surrounded by an insulating layer of myelin. Myelin eliminates interference from adjacent axons, preventing “short circuits.” This facilitates faster and more efficient transmission of signals from motor neurons to leg muscles. The increased efficiency of spinal motor neurons also enables self-control of the sphincter and bladder muscles, allowing children to learn to use the toilet. Girls develop myelin earlier than boys, further supporting the reason why girls learn to use the toilet earlier than boys.
The two paragraphs quoted above generally reflect the book’s narrative style. The second paragraph uses a series of terms to describe facts, which, in plain language, roughly means that “toddlers around two years old are generally able to learn to use the toilet, and girls usually learn earlier than boys.” The children mentioned in the first paragraph are fictitious. For the sake of representation, there are boys and girls, as well as a variety of typical temperaments. Perhaps the most exciting part of this book is the part that discusses the formation of children’s temperaments.
