How to Build a Human: What Science Knows About Chi

Here is what science knows about childhood, so you can use the scientific method – be calm, be curious, be creative – to understand your human child in all their glorious, frustrating complexity.

Looking after children can be overwhelming, especially when a lot of people say they have the ‘right’ answer. But what if, instead of following instructions, you parented like a scientist? What if you took the available evidence-based information, and then really looked at how it relates to the unique child in front of you? This is what scientist Emma Byrne decided to do when she became a mother.

This book will tell you what is probably happening neurologically and physiologically in your child. It will talk about how they might develop. It will challenge the perceived wisdom, not by claiming that the studies are wrong, but by focusing on the variance, as well as the mean. Your child is an individual, not an average.

Like all good scientists, you’re going to screw up along the way. You’ll reach dead ends, you’ll need to wrack your brain for new approaches. But by staying curious, creative, and paying attention to what’s really happening with your family, Emma Byrne will help you figure it out. Just in time for everything to change once again.