Few things cause parents more worry than whether their children have friends and are well integrated into their social communities. While some kids seem to relate to others and make friends easily, others have more difficulty. A small number of children remain friendless or struggle to make and keep friends.

In Starting Kids Off Right, clinical psychologists Stephen Nowicki, Marshall Duke, and Amy Van Buren offer parents, teachers, and caregivers insights—gathered from decades of professional experience—into the hows and whys of relationship building from infancy up to the age of twelve. Written in easy-to-understand, jargon-free language, the book begins with overviews of social development, human relationship theory, and the role of nonverbal language in forming relationships. The book is then broken down into chapters by developmental stages: infancy (birth to two years), childhood (two to five years), and juvenile era (five to ten years).

Within each section the authors look at the expectations and opportunities—as well as special challenges—of building, deepening, and keeping relationships at every stage of child development. To make the text even more accessible, they have included numerous illustrative scenarios and exercises called “parent skill builders.” The result is an easy-to-use guide that clearly demonstrates techniques for assessing a child’s strengths and weaknesses in developing relationships. It shows parents how to start kids off right with healthy relationship-building skills, as well as how to help their children become more confident in using those skills as they mature.