This work covers the psychological, behavioural side of childcare. It traces all the key themes from birth to the start of adolescence, going into them in depth, and looks at parenting from a psychological and philosophical approach that aims to help parents through the challenges and make possible a happier family life. The book describes and suggests ways of handling every behavioural problem a parent could reasonably encounter, and provides an optimistic account of the mental side of child development designed to show parents what, at any age, it is reasonable to expect, what constitutes a problem and what does not and, above all, how to keep it in perspective.