Boy was that a great book! I read it so so much. Almost twice, but a had to cut it short because some guy was pissing me off and I had to chop his head off. But boy did Louise J. Kaplan get me pumped about adolescence. I'm so pumped I could just drop kick her in the face. Boy am I pumped! (fade to black with guitar music in the background)

Dr.Kaplan explains the physical and psychological transformations that occur as a child enters adolescence. She covers the evolution of sexuality and morality, socialization, the problems of modern youths and contemporary issues such as eating disorders.

As many other reviewers have stated, this is a helpful book. But I just wanted to note that it is very mom-focused. The author acts as if the bond with the mother is the only bond, and the father just happens to be hanging around. Since it was written in 1978, this could have something to do with it, but I would argue that, while the bond with the mother is very important, parents can do quite a lot to assure that the baby is bonding and close to both parents. Just something to keep in mind. (This isn't meant to be a review of the whole book, just a side note.)

This book allows you to get to a place that all parents wish they could be, inside their childs thoughts. I now have more understanding and MUCH more patience. It is easy now to be compassionate instead of upset since so many of my questions have been answered regarding infants moods, thoughts, feelings, and behavior. It has not only given me a new perspective on childhood behavior, it has helped me to understand my own!

This book is wonderful. It explains and delineates the phases through which babies and toddlers go as they develop, using Margaret Mahler's theories, but making them accessible to the layperson. If you ever tried to read Mahler's "The Psychological Birth of the Infant", you know how scholarly and intellectually dense a work it is (I tried, but couldn't). Further, the loving and lyrical style makes it engaging and joyous to read. I wish that fathers (I am one, to a toddler girl) would read it, too.

Although this book has some interesting ideas, the author's perspective is limited by a narrow focus on freudian theories on penis envy and castration fear. The overall work is also tinged with an outdated 80's feminism that blames the evil patriarch for enslaving helpless women. The author seems to have a contempt of all traditional femininity. At one point she refers to parent's teaching children to act in feminine or masculine ways as 'soul murders.' The book ends with the words "..normal femininity..a perversion, if you will." If you are looking for progressive thinking you will find this book quite conservative.

Although this book presents some interesting ideas, the author's perspective is limited by a narrow focus on Fruedian theories of penis envy and castration fears. Further, the entire book is shaded by an outdated 80s era feminism that blames the evil patriach for enslaving helpless females. The author seems to have a comtempt for all that is traditionally feminine. In one passage she calls parent's attempts to teach children to be feminine or masculine "soul murders," and the book's final words are "..normal femininity...a perversion, if you will." If you are looking for progressive thinking you will find this book very conservative.

I'm currently reading this book for a women's studies class on psychoanalysis and gender. The author succeeds in posing critical questions to psychoanalytic theories of perversions such as fetichism, sadomasochism, etc. However, I think her arguments were clouded sometimes by what seemed like moral judgements, for example in saying that "Perverts don't make love, they make hate". It has really interesting case studies. It also helps to analyze one's own behavior in terms of sexuality and its intersection with how we gender our actions in every day life. I would recommend it to anyone interested in re-thinking psychoanalysis.