Media Questions

If you're considering a story on young children's development and behavior, here are questions you may find helpful when interviewing Helen Fowler Neville, author of Is This a Phase? Child Development & Parent Strategies, Birth to 6 Years and (with Diane Clark Johnson) of the earlier Temperament Tools: Working with Your Child's Inborn Traits (Rev. Ed.).

• What are the most common questions you receive from parents about infants, toddlers and preschoolers?

• How do you believe a child's temperament affects development and thus behavior?

• As a baby develops into a toddler and then a preschooler, what behavioral changes should parents expect? What changes in their roles and their parenting techniques should they expect to make?

• How do you reassure parents who question whether a child's behavior is normal, especially when they're comparing a child to siblings, cousins or playmates?

• How can parents distinguish between a serious delay and normal development that's just a little slow?

• Why do so many parents consider 2-year-olds and 4-year-olds difficult?