ABSTRACT

This new edition of the bestselling text, Nurturing Natures, provides an indispensable synthesis of the latest scientific knowledge about children’s emotional development. Integrating a wealth of both up-to-date and classical research from areas such as attachment theory, neuroscience developmental psychology and cross-cultural studies, it weaves these into an accessible enjoyable text which always keeps in mind children recognisable to academics, practitioners and parents. 

It unpacks the most significant influences on the developing child, including the family and social context. It looks at key developmental stages from life in the womb to the pre-school years and right up until adolescence, covering important topics such as genes and environment, trauma, neglect or resilience. It also examines how children develop language, play and memory and, new to this edition, moral and prosocial capacities. Issues of nature and nurture are addressed and the effects of different kinds of early experiences are unpicked, creating a coherent and balanced view of the developing child in context.  

Nurturing Natures is written by an experienced child therapist who has used a wide array of research from different disciplines to create a highly readable and scientifically trustworthy text. This book should be essential reading for childcare students, for teachers, social workers, health visitors, early years practitioners and those training or working in child counselling, psychiatry and mental health. Full of fascinating findings, it provides answers to many of the questions people really want to ask about the human journey from conception into adulthood.

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part |2 pages

Part I Beginnings of Emotional and Social Development

chapter 2|10 pages

Life begins: from conception to birth

chapter 3|12 pages

Born to relate

chapter 5|12 pages

Empathy, self and other minds

part |2 pages

Part II Overarching Bodies of Ideas

chapter 6|14 pages

Attachment

chapter 7|14 pages

The importance of culture

chapter 8|18 pages

Biology and the brain

part |2 pages

Part III Developmental Capacities and Stages

chapter 10|12 pages

Language, words and symbols

chapter 13|14 pages

Boys, girls and gender

part |2 pages

Part IV Not Just Mothers

chapter 14|10 pages

Nonmaternal care and childcare

chapter 16|12 pages

The place of fathers

chapter 17|16 pages

Moving towards adulthood

part |2 pages

Part V Consequences of Early Experiences