Parents are raising their children in a world that is both more complicated and more flooded with information. The cross-generational passing down of parental wisdom from one's own family and neighbors is no longer common practice. Instead, parents receive overwhelming, often competing, advice from books, magazines, social media, and Internet "experts."

While this abundance of childrearing advice shows society's interest in parenting, it also means that there is no magic formula when it comes to raising children. In this book, I have tried to provide young parents with some guidelines that will help them make sound parenting decisions for themselves. These are based on personal knowledge gained over forty years of teaching and widely accepted theories and reputable research. I also wrote from my own experience raising three children and four grandchildren. What was most helpful in writing this book, however, were the insights I've gained from my interactions with countless children and parents at the San Jose State University Child Laboratory, where I worked as the lab director.