This "compassionate guide for parents and readers" (Kirkus Reviews) reveals how to distinguish between the childhood traits that are cause for concern, and those that are not. Every parent hopes their child will grow up to be happy, smart, popular, and successful--and as a result, many are anxious and eager to find clues to what their child's future will be. But with websites, media, and other parents providing an endless stream of advice about how to raise your children to be perfect, whom can a parent trust? Susan Engel draws on her years of experience as a developmental psychologist, educator, and mother to help parents and teachers identify behaviors that require intervention, while also providing reassurance about those that do not. Unlike many parenting experts, Engel encourages acceptance and perspective. Rambunctious children will calm down as they age and find activities to absorb their intellectual energy. Shy kids don't need to become "un-shy"--they simply need to learn how to reach out to others on a one-to-one level. Blending stories about real children with new ways of thinking and up-to-the-minute social and clinical research, Your Child's Path is both an absorbing narrative and an indispensable tool that will help restore parents' sanity and put the joy back in child rearing.