Book Review: Ready to Learn - How to Help Your Preschooler Succeed

By Stan Goldberg, PhD; 313 pages.

The cover makes these promises:
• Understand how children learn
• Learn how to become a super teaching parent
• Avoid current and lifelong emotional problems
• Prevent learning problems in kindergarten
• What to do now to make your child's future better.

If that doesn't wear you out right there, the book might finish the job. It’s packed with excellent learning strategies, but may make you feel like a bad parent if you're not on learning patrol 24-7.

About the Guide Rating

I'll be honest: I have mixed emotions about this book. I had them when I first heard the title -- do we really have to push preschoolers now? I had them when I was reading -- the problem went away how fast? And I had them when I assigned a rating above. Much of the material here is absolutely five-star stuff, but I’m afraid it will make a lot of folks feel very one-star about their parenting -- guilty that they didn’t do all this when their child was younger, guilty that nothing they try works like it does in books, guilty that they have no magical doctor to drop in and fix things.

Those are useless feelings, and I may be projecting my frustration about my children’s own intractable learning disabilities on a defenseless book. But I wonder if the author didn’t worry a little about stirring up that sort of guilt, because the last couple of chapters go out of their way to assure parents that not everything can be fixed and children are valuable even if they don’t excel (read an excerpt). I’m not sure you can title a book “How to Help Your Preschooler Succeed” and then assure parents it’s okay if they don’t. But I do appreciate the attempt..

If you have a preschooler who’s just a little behind in kindergarten readiness skills, this book will be a huge help. If you have a child with more serious special needs, there may be things here that would be helpful as well. One suggestion, though, for the latter group in particular: Read the last two chapters first.

• Discuss this book.
• Read an excerpt.