Penelope Leach, research psychologist and mother of two, is a
favourite source of child development information and child care advice
for parents all over the world, and a powerful advocate for the needs
of families.
After a first degree in history at Cambridge University, a diploma
in social work and then a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of
London, she studied many aspects of child development and child rearing
under the auspices of the Medical Research Council.
With ten years of research behind her, though, the births of her own
children made her aware of gulfs between theory and practice,
professionals and parents, adults and children, even men and women.
Much of her subsequent work has been devoted to building bridges across
them from both sides. Accordingly she is a Fellow of the British
Psychological Society, a Vice President of the Health Visitors'
Association and past President and Chair of the Child Development
Society, yet she also works for parents' and children's organizations
concerned with antenatal education and birth; parental leave and
family-friendly working practices, day-care and early years education.
She currently directs a programme of research into the effects of
various forms and combinations of care on children's development from
birth to school age.
Penelope Leach's books include Babyhood: Infant Development from Birth to Two Years and The Parents' A-Z, both of which are published in Penguin; The First Six Months: Coming to Terms with Your Baby; Children First: What Society Must Do - and is Not Doing - for Children Today;
and, of course, the acclaimed Baby and Child, which in its original
version sold over three million copies in twenty-nine languages, and
was the basis for an award-winning cable TV series shown all over the
world. This new version of the book, Your Baby and Child, won First Prize in the Popular Medicine Category of the BMA Medical Book Competition.
