Written for parents and for professionals working with children and their parents, this book demonstrates that children's social development must be given paramount importance in order for them to achieve long-term school success. The book shows parents how to be effective caregivers by knowing what to realistically expect from a child based on a well-illustrated developmental timetable and an appreciation for individual differences. In addition to providing "how-to" for managing challenges ranging from a child's autonomy to homework assignments, the book dispels popular misconceptions about children that can impede healthy parent-child interaction and child development. The three parts of the book deal with home environment, the school experience, and challenges to parenthood. The chapters, which include implications for academic performance and parenting strategies for supporting academic success, are as follows: (1) "Typical and Atypical Child Development"; (2) "Early Preparation for School Adjustment"; (3) "Discipline: The Basis for Learning and Achievement"; (4) "Nursery School: Passion, Pretend, and Practicing"; (5) "Elementary School: Latency--The Age of Industry"; (6) "Middle School: Puberty--Upheaval and Biological Change"; (7) "High School: Adolescence--A Normative Crisis"; (8) "College: Late Adolescence and Early Adulthood--Consolidation and Stabilization; (9) "Homework and School Achievement: Whose Homework Is It Anyhow?"; (10) "Working Mothers: Myths and Reality; (11) Divorce: Changing Cultural Attitudes and Concerns"; (12) "Parenting Gone Awry: Good Intentions and Unintended Consequences"; and (13) "Summary and Conclusions." Contains 95 references. (HTH)