A Practical Guide to Child Psychology: Understand Your Kids and Enjoy Parenting

by Kairen Cullen

Child psychology explains how children's brains work and develop on matters such as language, environment, and parental autonomy. This Practical Guide helps you to easily understand why your child develops the way they do, and how to help them towards a healthy, successful, and happy life.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Child Psychology

224 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2011

Reviews

[Nug · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very nice revision that encompasses all important psychological theories, especially in relation to Child Psychology. But haven’t learned much from it; at least not as much as I’d hoped I would.

[Lizzie Lou · Rating 4 out of 5]

A useful introduction

This is a very accessible book to read and a good introduction to general theories in psychology, not just child/developmental psychology. It would be a good read for psychology students or those working with children who want to develop their theoretical knowledge. I personally would have liked to see DDP included but we cant have it all. It is an introduction after all. Definitely worth a read.

[George Siatos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Broad and well written introduction to child psychology

It introduced many theories and constructs which allows one to dig deeper into the areas that resonate with them. All in all a good read.

[Bella · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great insight

The use of understanding child psychology is that it can help us to identify kids learning disorders. Obviously a psychologist help is required for further procedures. However positive reinforcement brings good results. A good read

[Aida Saldana Hernandez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book, it's a very good introduction/summary of the main psychological theories.
I particularly liked the last chapter where there are lots of specific case studies and how those were resolved.

[Diomedes Galvan JR · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Validation

I’ve read multiple parenting Books and continue to look for ways on how to be a better parent. This book gave me a very nice feeling for two reasons, learned a few more things in a deeper level. Secondly, I’ve been doing a lot of the things listed here.

[Thien Hoang · Rating 1 out of 5]

It is so shallow, left me with no impression, no revelation. Everything feels too common sense, the diagrams look meaningless, the “exercises” are plainly dry and boring, I can’t be bothered enough to try.

[Nitin Jain]

Still reading, few info on how different people have different child upbringing techniques. The most pressing subject in today's world, where most people don't know how to raise children.

[Webbo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not what it says on the tin at all. I came for the title but got a pithy overview of most branches of child psychology. Like a revision guide.

[Ilias · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nicely written and gave a generally introduction. Didn't go as deep as I wanted, but it wasn't bad at all. Enjoyable.

[Ralph Zoontjens · Rating 2 out of 5]

The subtitle of the book is misleading - this guide is hardly practical and almost purely theoretical. It's mostly a guide through different movements of psychology seen from the point-of-view of the professional, which in a way is sort of dumb. Because it's not really saying much other than pointing at different theoretical frameworks. The cognitivist approach, the psychoanalytical one, the humanists, the behaviorists, and ecological psychology - the basics are all in there. Except for transpersonal psychology - which could apply to children, why not. Meditation has proven its benefits. I have always found it funny how everything theoretical that fields like psychology mention instantly drops away to make way for reality when we are at the peak of our performance. That said, having a good basis in the theories around child psychology is never a waste of time and can inspire new ideas as to new daily routines and interactions of your child. And I like how the author ends with two approaches that can be of great benefit in actual daily life: art and play therapy. Except we don't want to psychologize our own children, so let's call it development instead of therapy.

[Drew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked this up in a London bookstore as part of a display with a number of "Introducing" books. There are a number of books on about every topic imaginable, so I thought this might be an interesting test book to see if the others might also be good resources. I love the idea of short books that give a decently comprehensive (though obviously only at the intro level) to various topics.

This book was specifically about Child Psychology, but that means it covered quite a bit of Psychology in general. All the major players and all the major theories. It felt like a textbook-light and was very readable, with a few practical examples/applications.

[Kate Jenner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not quite what I was expecting. This was a brief overview of the various child psychology theories but it gave you little in the way of practical advice. I have come across various development theories in my training as a teacher such as Vygotsky and Dweck so this didn't really give me any more than that. I think it might be good if you had particular problems you wanted to look into and wanted some background on potential approaches open to you.

[Ririn Marina · Rating 4 out of 5]

worked as a refresher for me....learned most of the theories during my early childhood diploma course. ...but of course there are some new information and theories that had not been thought or included in Singapore context...

[Adam Colthorpe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent overview in accessible language

Really helpful overview of a number of areas of psychology, their origins, weaknesses and interlinked concepts. Would recommend to anyone looking to understand psychology and their children better.

[Hayley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A concise reminder of a number of things I learnt during A-level along with a number of things I didn't realise is forgotten.

[Kadri Tolsberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must read for all people who plan to have kids. =)