Love Builds Brains

by Jean M Clinton

Jean Clinton lays out the early years' journey of attachment, self-regulation, connection, resilience and well-being, and does so with scientific explanations measured out in understandable doses. This book is full of deeply researched wisdom, offered in a conversational style. It's like having coffee and a chat with Jean as you sit at her kitchen table.

Genres: Parenting

280 pages, Paperback

Published October 1, 2020

Reviews

[Molly McPherson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jean has a brilliant handle on how to make big ideas accessible for everyone. Her book would serve as an excellent guide to parents and educators alike, from birth to early adulthood. She answers the burning questions of society today while providing strategies and resources to assist.

[Reisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

The one big positive thing about this book is its constant affirmation of the intuitions of the average nurturing parent. I liked that many relevant and modern research results in the field of child psychiatry support a lot of what I think are best practices for raising a healthy and mindful child. I found the discussion about "The School Readiness Trap" interesting.

*harsh review incoming*

There were a lot of suggested external resources mentioned in this book that I think would be useful as 'Further Reading'. I say this because, by itself, this book was really shallow and rhetorical in its dissemination of the current research and consensus around how to raise children to be socially and mentally healthy. I found Dr. Clinton's prose to be meandering, unorganized, and difficult to follow; very often Dr. Clinton would start a discussion, I would try to follow her train of thought, and by the time she gets to her point, the train has all but derailed.

I am particularly annoyed about the last chapter which was the topic that most interested me, "Growing Up Digital". In this chapter, she describes a lot of correlation between vague variables like "developmental factors", language development and screen time without convincing dissemination, leaving the reader to imply causation. Obviously, correlation is not causation but Dr. Clinton makes a flippant statement about this ("she's not saying that screen time causes unhappiness. But there's an association") and doesn't explain that further. The casual implication that autism-like symptoms or even suicidal tendencies are associated with high media screen use without carefully discussing the nuances is egregious (i.e. one should be careful and say that there are many factors that may contribute to an individual dying by suicide but what are they? this book sure won't specify). Antisocial behaviour as a predictor of suicidal tendencies or complex conditions like autism deserve more than a couple of fleeting paragraphs and shouldn't be shallowly associated with screen use among youth. I found this chapter and the one about self-regulation exceptionally frustrating.

Overall, this book reads like an informal blog or maybe a TED talk. The subheadings within each chapter are often unnecessary, the ubiquitous rhetorical questions are distracting, and it's frankly poorly edited (e.g. many typos, inconsistent application of in-text citations, topics of discussions are unorganized, poor cohesion of arguments between and within chapters). The prose is honestly exhausting to read; meandering thoughts and random uncompelling anecdotes abound. I think a co-author or a thorough editor would make a big difference if Dr. Clinton decides to publish a second edition.

[Marina Saidova · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books on the topic of relationships between children and their caregivers. Brilliant in translating so much research into simple accessible concepts for general public. Highly recommended to anyone who has a child in their care, be it a professional educator or a regular parent.

[Christy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good reminders for parenting and professional practice. Good reframing of maladaptive behaviours in the challenging school setting.

[Nancy Beaulieu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible book that everyone in the world should read!

[Sandra Herrera · Rating 5 out of 5]

basic information for every new parent!

The flow of this book is engaging and the level of language and research, target the concepts for any audience.