The Thyroid

CHILD BEHAVIOR. By Frances L. Ilg and Louise Bates Ames. New York, Harper and Brothers, 1955. xi, 364 pp. $3.95. This book, in the words of Dr. Arnold Gesell who wrote the foreword, "incorporates and adapts" material from the syndicated newspaper column which has been written by the authors since 1951. Its apparent intent is to provide for parents a helpful guide to child rearing by dealing more specifically with problems than has been done in earlier publications. The "ages and stages" philosophy, while important, is again impressively overemphasized. The authors make some statements about which there is general agreement, for example, that individuality, environment, and developmental phases are all important. The superficiality of their consideration of environmental influences is disappointing, as is the absence of any real evidence that they believe the feelings which flow between parent and child influence development in many important ways. Some of their descriptions of behavior are graphic and their anecdotal material is entertaining. However, their advice in regard to specific situations is so mechanistic as to make no allowance for the individuality of a child and parent. They present no basis for the parents' thinking about the meaning of behavior. They often convey the attitude that all the parent really needs is the hardiness to survive until a smoother "phase" presents itself. To this reviewer their basic philosophy about development is not only a limited but a depressing one. The inevitability, for example, of having one's development and behavior "largely determined" by having been born a mesomorph or an ectomorph, or to feel that there is nothing to do in a difficult period except to wait for the next stage is far from helpful.