As 'seasoned campaigners' we offer our readers more than 60 joint practice years of commonsense experience on children and their prob- lems. Child care is a large and fascinating part of general family practice. More than any other discipline it is a mix of understanding the wide range of normal and abnormal development, of skilful diagnosis and treatment of treatable conditions, of long-term care for handicapped children, and of organizing and carrying out prevention. F or all this and more the physician has to rely on sound knowledge and understanding of the child, parents, family, social...

In 1972, Dr Margaret Pollak published her book Today's Three-Year Oids in London. This was a sensitive study of family life and the social environment of a large number of London children, together with an account of their developmental assessment by various test methods. She showed that variations of developmental performances were more closely related to the quality of family life than to social and economic factors. Dr Pollak has now re-investigated the same children at nine years of age and this book is a record of her findings. The differences in development which were noted at three...