How to Build a Human: What Science Knows About Childhood (Paperback) - Emma Byrne

Here is what science knows about childhood, so you can use the scientific method - be calm, be curious, be creative - to understand your human child in all their glorious, frustrating complexity.

'Byrne's book is about scientific parenting, and it is very welcome indeed ... breezy and digestible ... this is such a good book' Tom Whipple, The Times Kids aren't all the same. You can't follow instructions and expect success every time. So what if parents approached their children as questions to be answered and not problems to be solved? Scientist Emma Byrne takes evidence-based information on everything from physical and emotional development to what is really happening during sleep and separation anxiety, then shows how to apply it to the unique child in front of you. She challenges perceived wisdom by focusing on the variance as well as the mean - because your child is an individual, not an average. Like all good scientists, you're going to have a few missteps along the way. You'll reach dead ends; you'll need to wrack your brain for new approaches. But by staying curious, creative and paying attention to what's really happening with your family, Emma Byrne will help you figure it out. Just in time for everything to change once again.

About the Author

Dr Emma Byrne is a scientist, journalist, and public speaker. Her BBC Radio 4 'Four Thought' episode was selected as one of the 'Best of 2013' by the programme's editors. She has been selected as a British Science Association Media Fellow and for the BBC Expert Women Training, and is published in CIO, Forbes, the Financial Times and e-Health Insider. Her first book, Swearing is Good For You is, among other things, reassuring about swearing in front of your kids.