Fatherneed: Why Father Care Is as Essential as Mother Care for Your Child » (Reprint)

Kyle D. Pruett, M.D., is a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Yale Child Study Center and Medical School, and past president of Zero to Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Their Families. A former Good Housekeeping columnist and host of his own Lifetime television series, Your Child Six to Twelve, Dr. Pruett currently is an editorial adviser to Parents Magazine and the "Today's Parent" columnist for the parentsedge.com website. He lives with his wife, Dr. Marsha Kline Pruett, and daughter, Olivia, in Guilford, Connecticut.

Fathers have always parented differently than mothers. In Fatherneed, Dr. Kyle D. Pruett shows mothers and fathers why that difference is so important to a child's physical, cognitive, and emotional development.

Drawing on more than two decades of highly acclaimed research at the Yale Child Study Center, and backed up by true stories from actual families, Fatherneed is the essential how-to guide for women and men who wish to promote engaged fathering. This book will help enable fathers to give their children the skills they need to develop into happy and healthy adults. Step by step, Dr. Pruett specifically addresses what a father can do to prepare his marriage, his house, and his emotions for his child's needs, from infancy through the toddler years, childhood, adolescence, and young and mature adulthood.

With advice to fathers ranging from how to speak to toddlers so that they listen, to how to avoid the common tendency to reinforce gender stereotypes in young children, to how to maintain a connection with an increasingly autonomous teenager, Fatherneed is the perfect resource for all dads-including divorced fathers, fathers of adopted children, stepfathers, and fathers of special-needs children-as well as moms who want kids who are meaningfully connected to their fathers. With wit, authority, and compassion, Dr. Pruett shows how to be sure that your child gets what only a father can provide.

Publishers Weekly

A pioneer in the field of fatherhood research, Yale child psychiatrist Pruett (The Nurturing Father) draws on his own groundbreaking longitudinal study of men as primary caregivers, as well as the findings of others, in this exploration of how fathering affects both children and men. "Men are the single greatest untapped resource in the lives of American children," he contends, building a solid case for recognizing and supporting this unique and critical connection. Pruett champions the early involvement of fathers, showing how infants are "prewired" for attachment to both men and women, and explains the lifelong benefits of this mutually dependent relationship, which he calls "fatherneed," and the vital role it plays in both child development and the emotional and physical well-being of men. Showing how a healthy father-child relationship complements rather than competes with that of the mother and child, Pruett offers a host of pointers for negotiating the various stages of childhood, from infancy and toddlerhood through the early school years, adolescence ("chase your children down occasionally, buy them lunch, and listen") and young adulthood. Pruett writes with an easy grace, and his warmly relaxed style is studded with humor. Thoughtful, inspiring and eminently practical, this one belongs at the top of the "must have" list for every father. (Jan.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.