Beginnings: A Guide to Child Psychology and Development for Parents of 0–5-year-olds

by Sarah Ockwell-Smith

Pre-order Sarah Ockwell-Smith's essential guide to child psychology and development.

BEGINNINGS is  modern month-by-month reference guide for parents of 0-5-year-olds. It will answer all the questions that parents have about their baby, toddler and preschooler's physical and psychological development.

Topics  
 *How a baby grows and develops, month by month, during pregnancy 
*Physical development, month by month, in the newborn period 
*Brain development from birth to five years 
*How sleep develops and changes throughout the first five years 
*The development of self and personality 
 *Social development, attachment and peer relationships 
*Temperaments and the development of emotion regulation 
*The development of memory 
 *Current and classic theories in child psychology 
*Learning to sit, crawl, cruise and walk. 
*Language acquisition and early literacy skills 
 *Early mark making - learning to draw and form letters 
 *Schemas - how children learn about the world around them. 
 *Food preferences and eating experiences in early childhood 
 *Play - including suggestions for entertainment at each age 
 *How parents and carers can encourage optimal brain development

Genres: Parenting, Nonfiction

288 pages, Paperback

Published March 19, 2024

About the author

Born in Bedfordshire, England in 1976, Sarah Ockwell-Smith is a mother of four school aged children, three boys and one girl.

After graduating with an honors degree in Psychology, specialising in child development, she embarked on a five year career in Pharmaceutical Research and Development, working with clinical trial data, until she became pregnant with her first child in 2001. After the birth of her firstborn Sarah retrained as an Antenatal Teacher, hypnotherapist/Psychotherapist, Infant Massage Instructor and Birth and Postnatal Doula. Over the years Sarah has updated her knowledge with various study days and courses including paediatric first aid, paediatric safeguarding, perinatal psychology and birth trauma.

Sarah now works as a parenting author, writer and coach. With a particular interest in child sleep.

Reviews

[Kat · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 stars - it was literally OK. Not awful at all, but if you've read pretty much any of the author's other books - or any other parenting book along the gentle parenting lines - you don't need this one. It's also incredibly brief once you get past 12 months - perhaps I was just expecting too much from it based on all the promotion the author did.

I'll re-read at some point and either review rating or add a more thorough review - for now I'm just feeling a little disappointed by it.

[Sam With Veggies · Rating 3 out of 5]

Someone else wrote that this book as just OK, and I couldn’t agree more. It’s more of a book about 0-12 months in detail plus some tips for 1-5 year olds. I feel it was incredibly brief and very basic information which is much better covered in other parenting books. The information in this book is interesting and well written but just feels like it’s missing a lot

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative and interesting. I particularly enjoyed the bits about physical development and recommended toys by age as I’d not come across these elements/suggestions in previous publications of a similar ilk.

[Haniva Zahra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Buku ini menjelaskan hal-hal yang lebih umum, namun lebih luas dari buku-buku lain dari penulis. Menurut saya, buku ini justru cocok sebagai perkenalan, sebelum membaca buku lain dengan tema yang lebih spesifik. Saya senang juga membaca buku ini karena memang banyak membahas dari sudut pandang Psikologi Perkembangan (Balita). Buku yang sangat baik dibaca oleh orang tua baru, khususnya bagi orang tua yang sedang hamil/baru melahirkan. Bagi saya, membaca buku ini sedikit terlambat, namun tidak ada yang benar-benar terlambat selama masih dibaca kan? Karena kebetulan saya juga sudah membaca buku-buku lain dari penulis, ada beberapa tips praktikal yang sama, namun di buku lain dibahas secara lebih mendalam. Meski begitu, buku ini cukup informatif, tidak sekedar menggabungkan pengetahuan penulis yang sudah dituliskan di buku-buku lainnya. Tetap bisa dilihat sudut pandang yang berbeda dan urgensi penulis menulis buku ini sebagai pelengkap dari buku-buku beliau yang lainnya.

[Caitie Elam · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the few parenting books I’d like to purchase and keep on my shelf for future reference as my little one gets older. Everything shared in this book is concise and evidence based, and follows child development psychology rather than behavior modification. Each stage’s milestones are discussed, play ideas, emotional and behavioral changes, as well as what’s actually happening to brain chemistry at certain ages (which I love as a child development nerd). I also like that it’s straight forward with research and doesn’t add in a lot of anecdotes or example stories. This book is great as a reference as you go parenting book since it spans birth to five years. Recommend!

[Karlina Oktaviana · Rating 4 out of 5]

My fourth Sarah Ockwell book, and I wish I had read it when my first was just born! Now reading it with my second baby here, and its still a gem.

Like her other books, Beginnings is full of practical, heartwarming parenting wisdom from pregnancy to first five years. So many valuable insights that reminded me how simple and loving parenting can actually be.

[Samantha Haley-Horsfall · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an absolute must read for parents of small humans. It made so much sense and I think it’s helped me understand my toddler so much better.

[Olga Perederieieva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some good information and insights, but would be better to have more specific examples

[Rach · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think there’s a lot of valuable information in this book. But I didn’t like the chapter on food, It contradicted much of the current advice from paediatric nutritionists

[K B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book for new parents.

[Lauren Atkinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Insightful and helpful for parents! I found the information to be quite basic but I realize it was made to be easy for parents to understand, which is appreciated. 4.5 ⭐️

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book but it could have done with more detail

[Chloe · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic read through and reference guide as your child ages, helping you understand where they’re coming from and how their brain is working.

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really love everything Sarah Ockwell Smith has to offer across her range of parenting books but unfortunately this one is too broad in its age range and therefore not practical as a digital or audio book. Ideal for dipping in and out of over the years but I found the first few chapters wasted on me (since my son is nearing age 2) and will have to dip back in when he’s older.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think it's a handy guide in terms of understanding what children are going through, what to expect and how best to help them. As a childcare educator a lot of this information wasn't new to me. But I found it particularly helpful with toy recommendations and developmental play ideas. I liked that related studies were talked about and found it very interesting to take up further reading. the reason I give it three stars is that a lot of the "fun facts" we're in fact not factual and a few of the references weren't in relation to what was said or not 100% accurate. Like teething symptoms - Sarah says 4 days - 1 before the tooth erupts, 3 days after. But I believe it's closer to a week, 4 /5 before and 3 days after as discovered in other studies. Another one was about language development between girls and boys (p196) she said the reason boys talk later than girls is that as a society we speak more to girls than boys - this is a tricky one, our understanding is not quite complete and her reference suggests further study - another conclusion is that females have a higher brain protein (FOXP2) which is responsible for language development and maybe why on average women talk more than men. Overall I think the information is sound and can be helpful as a general guide but I would recommend you read the references and do further research if you're unsure about what is written.