A great book for parents !

I highly recommend the book "How to raise a Brighter Child" by Joan Beck to all parents who have children under five.The author advocates early learning and stimulation for babies,toddlers and preschoolers without pressure ,ofcourse.The author says that early childhood (0-6 years) is a time of tremendous development and parents should take advantage of these precious years to provide children with the mental stimulation to boost their intelligence.

While reading the book I got the feeling that the late author was a believer of the Montessori method of education.But she doesn't focus fully on Montessori and shows parents how they can help their children learn in everyday situations.She doesn't give an outline of lessons but shows how to play games with children and how to interact with them so that they learn. There are examples of how to take advantage of children's natural curiosity to stimulate their minds.

Some useful suggestions in this book are:

• Giving the child a good language model to copy.


• Using "Bingo" and dice games (such as snakes & ladders) to teach the child about numbers


• Making nature intriguing to the child by giving her a magnifying glass.Leaves,insects...everything looks more magical when enlarged.


• Encouraging children to make collections of seeds,insects,leaves etc.


• Inspiring creative art beyond crayons and paper:how paper plates,peanut shells and toothbrush can be used in painting.


• Some montessori activities such as cutting matching pieces of cloth of several different textures-velvet,silk etc and asking the child to match them by sight and touch.

The only drawback of the book is its unimaginative layout devoid of any illustrations. This book was not updated after 1999.