Genetic factors play such a strong role in human development that genes alone can determine certain human behavioral characteristics -- There is no harm in putting off childbearing until the mother's career is established -- If a child's problem is genetically caused, the problem will be present at birth and will stay the same throughout life -- Unborn babies are not influenced much by the environment outside the mother's body -- As a mother-to-be gets closer to the date when her child will be born, she needs to be more careful about alcohol and drugs, because the risk of birth defects increases throughout pregnancy -- If a woman who is taking antidepressant medication becomes pregnant, she should stop taking the drugs because they may cause birth defects in her baby -- Mothers care for their babies well because they have a maternal instinct -- Babies work hard to be born -- "Crack babies" can't be cured and will always have serious problems -- We can learn about human development from studying baby animals, especially primates -- Parents need to have contact with their babies right after birth, so they can bond with them -- Babies are born with emotional attachments to their mothers and can recognize their mothers at once -- Feral children are individuals who have been brought up from infancy by animals -- A baby's sleeping position can cause or prevent sudden infant death syndrome -- Parents should not talk baby talk to their children, because this slows their language development -- Being exposed to two different languages is confusing for babies and interferes with normal language development -- Breast-feeding makes babies more intelligent -- When parents divorce, it's important for young children to have certain experiences with both parents, or they will form an attachment to only one of them -- Toddlers drop food on the floor because they want to make their parents mad -- It is important for parents to work with babies and teach them how to walk -- It is a good thing for an infant or toddler to have experience with many caregivers, not just one or two -- Some children would starve to death if their parents did not coax them to eat -- Parents who were abused as children are likely to abuse their own children -- Having kids listen to Mozart makes them smart -- The time between birth and age 3 years is the most important period of development and learning in a person's life -- People who were adopted will always be unhappy because they have suffered a Primal Wound -- Children need to develop basic trust and show it by their confidence in other people -- If a child is able to complete a task with an adult present, he or she is also able to do it alone -- Preschoolers who hold their breath when angry are trying to upset their parents and get their own way -- Vaccines and heavy metals cause autism -- Autism rates are rising rapidly, especially in certain parts of the country, so something must be happening to cause more cases of this serious developmental problem -- Children with brain injuries can be rehabilitated by using practices like patterning, and other problems can be treated with similar approaches -- Preschoolers who try to bargain with their parents really want to manipulate and control adults, and they should not be allowed to negotiate -- A young child can tell when someone is just teasing -- Children with attachment disorders must be treated very sternly and differently from typically developing children, even in ways that are ordinarily considered abusive -- Spanking should never be used to discipline a child, because it is ineffective and causes children to model the aggression they experience -- Children who play with matches will grow up to be seriously disturbed and violent and will probably be serial killers, especially if they are also cruel to animals and wet their beds -- Children have different learning styles, depending on whether they are left brained or right brained -- Karate lessons help schoolchildren achieve self-discipline and improve their schoolwork -- Birth order is an important factor that determines children's intelligence and personality -- When a child is mentally ill, any psychological treatment is better than no treatment -- Bullying is a natural behavior for children, and there's nothing you can do to stop it -- Sugar is a major cause of hyperactive behavior -- Adopted children have many more problems of social and emotional development than do nonadopted children -- If a child is sexually molested, he or she will probably repress the memory -- Parents really don't influence their children's long-term development very much -- Children are more likely to become delinquent if their fathers are absent or uninvolved -- Violent television programs and video games cause increased aggressive behavior -- If parents are not strict enough, children will behave badly and may become criminals -- Adolescents' brains go through some rapid changes; as a result, teenagers develop new ways of thinking about themselves and about the world -- High self-esteem makes children perform better in school -- Single-sex schools give better outcomes of academic achievement than do coeducational schools -- The DARE program is an effective way to prevent children and adolescents from dealing or using drugs -- Children and adolescents learn bad behavior from their peers -- Young teenagers should be tried and sentenced as adults if they commit serious crimes -- Adolescence is an emotionally dangerous time when teenagers are likely to attempt or commit suicide -- Punishment is an effective way of changing children's and adolescents' undesirable behaviors -- Children are reaching puberty earlier with each generation -- Teenage boys and girls should have the same level of fat in their bodies, about 10%.