3 out of 4 stars
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Like most parents I know, I worry about my daughters’ social development, about how they treat others, and about the friendships they make. I often wonder if I’m doing too much socially for them, or not enough, or if my help is actually needed at all. I want my daughters to be kind to everyone, not worry about climbing the social ladder, and have healthy friendships. After reading The Left Out Child: The Importance of Friendship by Judy Helm Wright, my nerves were set at ease as I realized my fears are not unique and my children are developing fairly typically.
I rated this book 3 out of 4 stars. I thought the content and information were important and presented in an easy-to-understand manner. The author clearly has a passion for children and that was evident throughout the book. I wasn’t able to award 4 full stars due to the lack of editing in this book. There were various typos, spacing errors, and some odd formatting issues that made the book feel unprofessional, which is unfortunate because the content was so good.
The Left Out Child is a practical guide for parents. It outlines the importance of childhood friendships, types of friendships, social skills and how to teach them, the unique challenges of making friends in today’s modern culture, likability, and conflict. The section about appropriate friendships at different ages (babies, toddlers, tweens, etc…) I found very helpful and was easily able to see where my own kids fit the various descriptions. I thought the section on bullying to be quite timely considering the topic has been on the hearts and minds of so many parents recently.
Much of the descriptions and advice in The Left Out Child were fairly common sense. However, if other parents are like me, this common sense may not always be at the forefront of their minds and the reminder was much appreciated. Tips such as “say hello and smile” seem almost too simplistic, but when I think about how much a smile and a warm greeting can put another at ease, I realize that these simple things are often the most important.
I would be remiss not to mention that this book appears to be best suited for typically-developing children. I think my friends with special-needs children would find this advice frustrating because their kids are not capable of responding in the ways described in this book. Author Judy Helm Wright is a parent educator, not a doctor, and encourages parents to seek out other resources or professional help if they have concerns about their child’s development.
I would recommend this book to parents, educators, daycare employees, and anyone else who works with children. The tips are practical and most are very easy to implement right away. I liked the encouraging tone of this book and think others will find it helpful as well.
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The Left Out Child
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