Brain Rules for Baby: How to Raise a Smart and Happy Child from Zero to Five

by John Medina

What helps early learning: breast-feeding, talking to your children—a lot, guided play every day, and praising effort rather than intelligence. • What hurts early learning: overexposure to television (keep the TV off before age 2), a sedentary lifestyle, and limited face-to-face interaction.

Keeping the TV off is hard with newborns. Often they just want to be held or fed and there isn't much else for you to do. Reading is hard because your hands are occupied. Babies can be boring.