Originally published in 1970, parents and teachers were beginning to realise how very much earlier in life human intelligence develops than was previously thought. A child's experience in its pre-school years largely determines its future academic progress; and environment and parental influence play a very great part in this.

The author describes the steps by which children develop mentally and emotionally, and the scholarly and experimental work that had been done in this field to date. The book was thought to be an eye-opener for most parents at the time (to be put beside 'Spock') and for all child psychologists a fascinating review of recent work.