What do you think?
Rate this book
A Guide to Child Health
Here is the third edition of the popular, definitive guide for parents on children's physical, psychological, and spiritual development. It combines medical advice with the essential issues of raising and educating children. The authors outline the connection between education and healing and discuss its implications for the raising healthy children. Medical, educational, and spiritual questions often overlap, and, when looking for the significance of any illness, it is necessary to study a child as a whole being of body, soul, and spirit. The authors based their theory and practice on seventeen years of experience in the children's outpatient department at the Herdecke Hospital in Germany, which is guided by the principles of anthroposophic medicine. Part one covers childhood ailments and home care. Part two looks at the healthy development of children and how to create the ideal conditions for them. The authors also examine issues of raising and educating children and how this affects them later on in life. This book is extremely practical. It presents cases of conflict and crisis, along with potential solutions. The new edition lists medical and health practices in North America, Southern Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.
477 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1990
6 people are currently reading
56 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 17, 2020
DNF, intensely outdated. Also very opinionated for a "medical" text. Comic books are corruptive, etc. Flowery unhelpful language. Humming to the baby doesn't soothe her, it "allows her soul to surrender to sleep."
August 16, 2014
This book is mind-blowing. Consider these topics: Symptoms of illness in childhood (ranging from the typical to atypical like fevers, and going so far as to approach the uneasy subjects like the purpose of illness, health of the spirit, cultivation of healthy rhythms, & vaccinations), The Foundations of Healthy Development (includes social issues and family connections), and Health through Education (answers as far as development in many such complex issues from effective parenting, development & stages of will, sleep and nutritional questions, to temperaments, religious education, sex education, multimedia, addiction & drugs, fears & anxieties, institutional education, and so on).
The authors base the theories that inform them upon anthroposophical theory. This may put some people off. What is most obvious even in the Table of Contents, is that in all matters, the spiritual is, rather than shunned, a welcome and necessary aspect of the whole, and is given as much weight as any other aspect. There are controversial notions within the chapters, like the stance on left-handedness (though they give an interesting argument from their point of view on this one).
There've been many questions as to the religion that anthroposophy stands upon. I have also heard that our most common forms of Christianity do not in many ways reflect the earliest Christianity; & that Christianity in its most ancient form, is anthroposophical. Among the more interesting of these claims are to the esoteric, even paganistic beliefs (that were in great part, what prevailed in the lives of those of the time) that without their inclusion, Christianity may not have won over those sought for conversion.
The authors do not shy away from the suggestion that our past lives inform our development in this life. Because our health is one way in which our bodies communicate with our conscious minds; it follows that our past lives inform our health in the earliest stages of development. What conclusions can be drawn from this, highly interpretable, are bravely but not overwhelmingly addressed by the authors in this book.
If you are open-minded, this Child's Health book will bring much to the tool box for which parents begin collecting as soon as they learn they're going to be parents. The spiritual is within, everywhere, inside this text, and yet it's not necessary for the reader to believe, in order to gain loads of excellent info. I am an atheist of sorts, and I find this book to be tops, in my top five of essential parenting libraries. I recommend it to every parent with whom I work.
The authors base the theories that inform them upon anthroposophical theory. This may put some people off. What is most obvious even in the Table of Contents, is that in all matters, the spiritual is, rather than shunned, a welcome and necessary aspect of the whole, and is given as much weight as any other aspect. There are controversial notions within the chapters, like the stance on left-handedness (though they give an interesting argument from their point of view on this one).
There've been many questions as to the religion that anthroposophy stands upon. I have also heard that our most common forms of Christianity do not in many ways reflect the earliest Christianity; & that Christianity in its most ancient form, is anthroposophical. Among the more interesting of these claims are to the esoteric, even paganistic beliefs (that were in great part, what prevailed in the lives of those of the time) that without their inclusion, Christianity may not have won over those sought for conversion.
The authors do not shy away from the suggestion that our past lives inform our development in this life. Because our health is one way in which our bodies communicate with our conscious minds; it follows that our past lives inform our health in the earliest stages of development. What conclusions can be drawn from this, highly interpretable, are bravely but not overwhelmingly addressed by the authors in this book.
If you are open-minded, this Child's Health book will bring much to the tool box for which parents begin collecting as soon as they learn they're going to be parents. The spiritual is within, everywhere, inside this text, and yet it's not necessary for the reader to believe, in order to gain loads of excellent info. I am an atheist of sorts, and I find this book to be tops, in my top five of essential parenting libraries. I recommend it to every parent with whom I work.
May 20, 2016
It has been more than just a reference book in order to treat illness with a natural approach; I have to say I didn't know anything about Rudolph Steiner's philosophy and some of the chapters were a bit too much for my taste at the time I first picked up this book, I mean, I didn't know what to make out of some parts like the learning process in childhood and when to start reading/writing with children. It was my mistake not to read the entire explanation and get a better glimpse of the Waldorf life style. As I kept bumping with this 'Waldorf ' thing everywhere I looked, I decided to read further and turned out to be a beautiful introductory book to the early years of childhood according to Steiner's philosophy.
Is a book to read in order and from beginning to end, it makes so much sense once you get deeper into the idea of this book and it can definitely redefine your parenting style for a better, healthier and in complete harmony home.
Is a book to read in order and from beginning to end, it makes so much sense once you get deeper into the idea of this book and it can definitely redefine your parenting style for a better, healthier and in complete harmony home.
January 9, 2014
I used this book for all my children. It empowered me to understand and manage many of my children's childhood illnesses withou running to the doctor because I felt helpless.
July 4, 2015
Practical, sound advice and ideas that make sense. I'm not going to drink the Kool-aid and pledge my life by it, but it's a helpful touchstone to keep in mind as I raise my children.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews