Most children fall into five basic personality types that stem from inborn physical characteristics: the sensitive child, the self-absorbed child, the defiant child, the inattentive child, and the active/aggressive child. Stanley Greenspan, M.D., is the first to show parents how to match their parenting to the challenges of their particular child. He identifies and vividly describes these five universal temperaments and then, with great empathy, shows parents how each of these children actually experiences the world and how to use daily childrearing to enhance an individual child's strengths and talents.

Internationally recognized for his brilliant insights into the emotional and intellectual development of infants and young children, Dr. Stanley Greenspan now shows how this can best be encouraged within the real lives of parents today. Recognizing that day care, for the most part, does not provide the intense one-to-one nurturing that children need in the first few years, he offers a radical redefinition of family life. Without suggesting that either parent give up a career, he presents a wide variety of practical solutions, including the "four-thirds solution" (in which both parents work 2/3 time), that make children the top priority and the equal responsibility of both parents.

Playground Politics is the first book to look at the neglected middle years of childhood,from kindergarten to junior high,and to help parents understand the enormous emotional challenges these children are facing. In witty, vivid stories, Dr. Greenspan brings to life the major emotional milestones of these years, when children move from the shelter of the family to the harsh rivalries of "playground politics," and toward an independent self image. His empathy for the turmoil children bring home from school, and for the parents who try to help, is deep and reassuring.