This essential text is a comprehensive, one-stop guide to addressing every facet of social-emotional development, working skillfully with children and families, and improving parents' interactions with their children. This is the one book every early childhood professional needs to help ensure a lifetime of social-emotional health for all the children they work with.Get the most up-to-date research findings on each social and emotional area; learn what social-emotional milestones a child should reach at each age level; address parents' most common questions about hot topics such as challenging behavior, language development, discipline, play, and feeding and sleeping problems; get a wide range of simple, concrete strategies and principles to use with children in their care and share with caregivers to promote their children's development in each key area; guide caregivers with updated exercises and activities that sharpen their parenting skills; select and use appropriate assessments.