A book all parents should read

As I seem to be plugging things today, let me recommend the book Baby Talk by Dr Sally Ward. This comprehensive and approachable book gives detailed advice on how to help and support your baby's developing communication skills. Refreshingly, it has a lot of advice on how to encourage children to listen - what a neglected skill this is - as well as how to talk. It's a great book and one that should be given to all parents when they leave the maternity ward. One moan: a lot of the advice given seems rather obvious (eg. don't always have the TV on in the background; read to your child; talk to your child as you play together etc), and much of the advice should be things that come naturally to the vast majority of parents. But it's still a worthwhile read simply down to the amount of detail included for each age and stage, and it's certainly a book I find myself going back to again and again.