Rating: 
Summary: author is a mal adjusted adult
Review: The author of this book is a mal adjusted adult. Parenting and marriage was not one of her successes in her own life. She would not be an advisor one should believe or follow.
Rating: 
Summary: Fascinating book, with well-researched hypothesis
Review: The author's general hypothesis for this book is the importance of the first two years of life (including in utero) to child development, and how when a combination of factors are combined, it is easy to predict that a child will turn to violence.
A fascinating book that is well-researched. I was able to understand the importance that the first two years of life have for a child, and how a baby deprived of love and the essentials for emotional and physical growth can be affected for the rest of their life by this time.
If you're a parent and you're interested by this book, also check out "Our Babies, Ourselves".
If you're looking for a book on how your child, raised in a happy and functional home, can avoid violence, this is probably not it. But if you read in the papers about children who carry guns to school and wonder why it happens, you're barking up the right alley. :)
Rating:
Summary: Sad
Review: This book confirmed what I suspected about kids and violence. Kids just don't kill out of nowhere and blaming Hollywood is a mute point really. This book will make you stop and ask yourself if you really can afford to have kids, and I don't mean financially. I've seen people who you would swear were born without souls and it all goes back to the cradle. I was glad to finish this book because it was extremely depressing and at times I was close to tears. We must protect and love our little babies, hold them close, kiss them and yes SLEEP with them. We had a family bed and our daughter is a very well adjusted child because of that. After she was born I told the doctor she was sleeping with us (4 months) and he was very critical and said to get her out immediately! Well, I got rid of him immediately and continued to nuzzle my little treasure and kiss her little round head and turned up nose. For thousands of years babies slept with their mom's and it's only recently in the USA where it's been taboo for some stupid reason. You mothers who sleep with your babies KEEP ON DOING IT. It will save you money by not buying cribs and gimmicy sheets and such, not to mention the special closeness and bonding you experience. It's sad that a lot of mothers can't stay home with their babies because they have to work since corporate america for the most part considers children to be non-existant. And then there's that consumer frenzy. How many SUV's, cell phones, and extra clothes do we really need. We don't need it, WE DON'T!!!! I blame consumerism for the downfall of our nation and the destruciton of the family and children.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent book for anyone interested in children.
Review: This book has gotten excellent and well-deserved advance praise from a variety of sources. I highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in children, children's issues, social policy, or even just looking for some fascinating information on the development of the human brain (and all that that implies). It is clear, just from news accounts, that younger and younger children are committing crimes that are more and more violent. This book is an explanation for this rising tide of violence by youth using the latest early brain development research, case studies, etc. This book asks us to look at the (largely ignored in practice and policy) 0-3 age group as a source of changing this tide of violence. Abuse, neglect, head injury, chemicals, etc. all have lasting effects on the developing child & child's brain. "Ghosts From The Nursery" shows us that we really need look not much further than early childhood to explain and alter this expanding youth violence, anger and crime. There are chapters on brain development and substances that are well-written and easy for the layman to understand. There is an excellent chapter on the important role that fathers play in their children's development, and there are some excellent resources. With all of the discussion of the importance of the 0-3 age group that is currently cropping up, this is the best and most comprehensive book for the exact importance of that age group.
Rating:
Summary: Should be required reading for all child-bearing age adults.
Review: This book makes a compelling case for nurturance and protection of pregnant mothers and their young children. It's wonderful to imagine a society that offered its finest resources to them.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant
Review: This was a truly amazing exploration of how children are affected from birth and beyond. Completely refuting the debate over nature vs. nurture, this book brilliantly examines how both inner and outer environments combine to determine the fate of children. Using the story of teenage killer "Jeffrey," each chapter of the book outlines how each stage of pre- and post-natal development determine if children will be destined for violence from the very beginning. This is an essential book for any person interested in redefining the cycle of violence. The ammunition that "Ghosts from the Nursery" provides through direct examples, research findings, and supported theories is invaluable for parents, social workers, psychology majors, and people in general who want to do more than put a band-aid on the epidemic of violence.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant
Review: This was a truly amazing exploration of how children are affected from birth and beyond. Completely refuting the debate over nature vs. nurture, this book brilliantly examines how both inner and outer environments combine to determine the fate of children. Using the story of teenage killer "Jeffrey," each chapter of the book outlines how each stage of pre- and post-natal development determine if children will be destined for violence from the very beginning. This is an essential book for any person interested in redefining the cycle of violence. The ammunition that "Ghosts from the Nursery" provides through direct examples, research findings, and supported theories is invaluable for parents, social workers, psychology majors, and people in general who want to do more than put a band-aid on the epidemic of violence.
Rating:
Summary: Ghosts from the Nursery
Review: Today I had a real awakening! I actually was at a Breakfast meeting in Memphis, Tennessee with Robin Karr-Morse. I have understood the basic concept of the information in this book, but I never imagined how profound this really is. Look around you. Look at yourself, your own children. It really made me stop and think and relate it to my own experience. Our society needs to wake up and smell the coffee ! Today's children are our future. We desperately need to get the word to our elected officials that pre-natal care, post-natal care ( home visits ), parental education/training with sound emotional support need to be priority instead of building more prisons ! My gratitude to Russell Gwatney ( Gwatney Cheverolet ) for inviting me. Yes, I bought the book and plan to get copies for both my daughters!
Rating:
Summary: Ghosts from the Nursery
Review: Today I had a real awakening! I actually was at a Breakfast meeting in Memphis, Tennessee with Robin Karr-Morse. I have understood the basic concept of the information in this book, but I never imagined how profound this really is. Look around you. Look at yourself, your own children. It really made me stop and think and relate it to my own experience. Our society needs to wake up and smell the coffee ! Today's children are our future. We desperately need to get the word to our elected officials that pre-natal care, post-natal care ( home visits ), parental education/training with sound emotional support need to be priority instead of building more prisons ! My gratitude to Russell Gwatney ( Gwatney Cheverolet ) for inviting me. Yes, I bought the book and plan to get copies for both my daughters!
Rating:
Summary: For the parent and for the professional . . .
Review: Violence committed by children is in the news on an almost weekly basis. With each incident that occurs, the children seem to be younger and younger, the latest being a six-year-old shooting to death another six-year-old classmate. When the general public is supplied with media reports which fail to look at the real roots of these violent behaviors, our desire for the quick and simple explanations often leads us to scapegoat poverty or race as a means to excuse these heinous crimes. The authors of Ghosts from the Nursery provide compelling evidence that violent behavior is learned in not only the first two years of life, but is derived from abusive and neglectful environments the first few months of early development. In fact, the authors share significant evidence revealing a predisposition to violent behavior that can be a direct result to exposure of toxins such as drugs and alcohol, combined with a mother's stress hormones generated from rage or fear, can directly affect brain development of the fetus. What makes this important? The core of an individuals ability to think, feel and relate to others is formed during the first years of life. Exposure to an environment overwhelmed with extreme abuse and neglect can seriously hamper this important development. I feel the following passage from this book provides a profound affirmation which requires us not only to look at societal implications of violence in the family, but how it reaches families across cultural and classical boundaries: "Impoverishment in the families producing violent children often exists at a deeper than material level. When looking closely at the families of violent children across classes and racial differences, we find an impoverishment of human connectedness, trust, support and emotional nurturing. People feel angry and alienated - often for several generations. There is a sense of separateness; a chronic irritability; an absence of optimism, joy, and knowing how to laugh; and a need to numb against hopelessness. When children are born into such settings, child abuse and neglect are palpable potentials. . . . The problem isn't so much that we can't see these children coming as that we aren't sure what to do or how much to get involved." (page 271) I would have to agree with the authors, that in order for the scientific research and multitude of existing and growing programs that support parents and children, to be effective in the battle against violence, we must radically change our views of babies. Babyhood is the formative years when our most complex and fundamental development in learning how we interact with others begins. This book is well written and easy to follow. It clearly explains research and facts supporting what may be considered controversial theories tracing the roots of violence. It is a must read for anyone and everyone. Especially the politicians, judges, attorneys and those with a hand in determining the fate of children and their families.
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