Loving this book so far. As a mother of a toddler, a lot of the information provided is helping me understand my toddler and encourages me to be more proactive in the way we spend time together.

Dear deity, this book was so thick and dense and easy to put down. The author synthesized research and theories from different areas - primarily business, education, and philosophy- and applied them to raising children, particularly the toddler years. The book is aimed at parents but is not a quick or easy read. It is heavily researched, which I appreciated, and there are extensive notes and bibliographies. Still, the result is a book that is complex, often dry, often boring and also thought provoking. I am not in favor of education being treated as a commodity, and the school chain she used to work for is known in the early childhood education community for curriculum that is rigid and overly academic. So, I disagreed with a lot of what she preached, and yet she also had some excellent points. NOTE: the ECE chain I currently work for is a direct competitor with the chain the author used to be part of.

The book has given me a lot to think about and some parents will find it interesting. While I was initially resistant to the idea of using business practices and theories in guiding child growth and development, I was pleasantly surprised at the relevance and natural intersection of business, education, and child development. I still don't want education or child care treated solely or primarily as a business but I have to acknowledge business's contributions to child growth and development.

While I still disagree with much of the book's approach and philosophy, and the book is frequently slow and dry, it has value to parents and early childhood educators alike. There are insights, carefully backed up with research, that are a mix of obvious and eye-opening. It's worth a read, just stock up on the caffeinated beverage of your choice for those dry, boring passages.

Tedious. A potential college text book, but not a readable book for parents.

I found this book to be too tedious for the average parent looking for information. I feel it would be better suited to a classroom setting, perhaps for those taking early childhood ed courses.

I liked this book! I liked how the book compares important adult skills and abilities to a toddler's abilities. The author, Dr. Jana, discusses how we can foster these skills in our children and prepare them for success as an adult. She discusses the things that we already teach our children and gives some additional ideas to further their learning. The QI skills covered are me skills, we skills, why skills, will skills, wiggle skills, wobbles skills, and what if skills. Parents are a key part in a child's learning, especially since their very early years are the most important for learning. She also discusses how we can help other parents and children who are at a disadvantage for learning necessary skills.

This book seemed like it wanted to be the "parenting book of the 21st century" and I just think it was trying too hard.