Demonstrates that pretend play is not an idle activity, but an essential arena for the child's intellectual, social, emotional and imaginative development. The program observes young children in play sequences that require planning negotiating collaborating, taking roles and developing narratives. In these sequences, children explore language and the imaginative 'as' if thinking that leads to advanced intellectual functioning. The learning that takes...

What do babies and young children really need? This impassioned dialogue cuts through all the theories, platitudes, and controversies that surround parenting advice to define what every child must have in the first years of life. The authors, both famed advocates for children, lay out the seven irreducible needs of any child, in any society, and confront such thorny questions as: How much time do children need one-on-one with a parent? What is the...