Welcome to Your Child's Brain, By Sandra Aamodt

Don't worry,it's all insidetheir heads

Brandon Robshaw
Saturday 07 April 2012 14:40 EDT
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

This is a diverting piece of popular science on the way children's brains develop, from embryo to university student.

It is full of curious factoids, such as that the eyesight of children who play outside is measurably better, and that the naughty-step strategy of disciplining kids was derived from observation of lab rats. The author's heartening contention is that you don't have to be a super-parent for your child's intelligence to develop – just a good-enough parent. The vast majority of children are like dandelions, in that they can thrive in almost any conditions. Perhaps this sounds like a silly complaint about a science book, but I did find the hard neurological bits, about what region of the brain does what, rather skippable.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in