Search - CHILD DEVELOPMENT: The First Two Years on DVD

Key Ingredients...Information, Compassion and Humor

Sally Cook | 12/30/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"With the many obligations in parents' daily lives, plus so many short- and long-term decisions to make, moms and dads can become confused, short-tempered, and completely stessed out. And that leads to feelings of anxiety, guilt and incompetence. This DVD Video Guide is supportive and informative without talking down to you and helped give me the confidence I was looking for to face some of the common challenges that arise in the first 2 years. The information is clearly presented and is organized into the following developmental periods: 0-3 months, 3-6 months, 6-12 months and 12-24 months. For the next age group...toddlers-preschoolers (ages 2, 3, 4 and 5), I highly recommend a small pocket guide called THE POCKET PARENT offering hundreds of sanity saving suggestions to try. Set up as a quick-read A-Z guide...it covers every challenging behavior you can think of such as anger, bad words, biting, hitting, the gimmes, morning crazies, tantrums, bedtime and mealtime refusals, separation anxiety and whining. CHILD DEVELOPMENT: The First 2 Years and THE POCKET PARENT are supportive easy reference guides for the home or daycare setting to revisit again and again."

Basic info set in old style 'video'

M. Lowe | San Francisco, CA USA | 02/21/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Offers pretty basic information on the development of infants and looks to be from the 80's though the copyright says 1993. Although I'm sure child development hasn't changed that much over the years, the whole thing seemed a bit outdated. I much preferred The Baby Human and hope they come out with more from that series."

Infant development college course members

Linda M. Jagielo | Lancaster, OH United States | 02/06/2010

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Although this video contains some good information, it also is a bit misleading at times and omits important information.

Child Development: The First Two Years does not include the importance of placing babies on their backs for sleep nor does it include other key information that research has found to reduce the likelihood of SIDS, such as ceiling fans and pacifiers.

Encouraging parents to place birth to three-year-old children in infant seats is not best practice. Infants need to be held whenever possible and shown their world. It is likely that infants who are placed in seats for extended periods will develop a flat skull (back of head becomes flat)--this is NOT normal.

Although a "disclaimer" of sorts was tacked onto the end of the recommendation for using playpens, it would have been better to warn against over use of playpens in the beginning and stress the need for infants to freely explore (physically) their environment as much as possible.

The recommendation to read to infants at an early age is commendable; however, the video illustrates a picture book with busy and abstract drawings. Infants benefit most from simple photographs of real items--they need to learn about their real world first.
"

Disappointed

Mary Kling | 12/12/2007

(1 out of 5 stars)

"As a nutritionist and a postpartum doula, I was very disappointed with this video. It shows babies drinking juice both from cup and a bottle and gives out-dated information for starting solids. Breastfeeding is not held up as the "gold standard" as it should be. Some of the other information is good, but you can find it elsewhere."