The of Childhood

Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Alexandra Lange‘s eye-opening exploration of how children‘s playthings and physical surroundings affect their development, from building blocks to city blocks. Parents obsess over their children‘s playdates, kindergarten curriculum, and every bump and bruise, but the toys, classrooms, playgrounds, and neighborhoods little ones engage with are just as important. These objects and spaces encode decades, even centuries of changing ideas about what makes for good child-rearing--and what does not. Do you choose wooden toys, or plastic, or, increasingly, digital? What do youngsters lose when seesaws are deemed too dangerous and slides are ed primarily for safety? How can the built environment help children cultivate self-reliance? In these debates, parents, educators, and kids themselves are often caught in the middle. Now, prominent critic Alexandra Lange reveals the surprising histories behind the human-made elements of our children‘s pint-size landscape. Her fascinating investigation shows how the seemingly innocuous universe of stuff affects kids‘ behavior, values, and health, often in subtle ways. And she reveals how years of decisions by toymakers, architects, and urban planners have helped--and hindered--American youngsters‘ journeys toward independence. Seen through Lange‘s eyes, everything from the sandbox to the street becomes vibrant with buried meaning. The of Childhood will change the way you view your children‘s world--and your own.