This book traces the growing influence of 'neuroparenting' in British policy and politics. Neuroparenting advocates claim that all parents require training, especially in how their baby's brain develops. Taking issue with the claims that 'the first years last forever' and that infancy is a 'critical period' during which parents must strive ever harder to 'stimulate' their baby's brain just to achieve normal development, the author offers a trenchant and incisive case against the experts who claim to know best and in favour of the privacy, intimacy and autonomy which makes family life worth living.

The book will be of interest to students and scholars of Sociology, Family and Intimate Life, Cultural Studies, Neuroscience, Social Policy and Child Development, as well as individuals with an interest in family policy-making.

Jan Macvarish is Researcher and Lecturer at the Centre for Parenting Culture Studies, University of Kent, UK. She is the co-author of Parenting Culture Studies, (Palgrave, 2014).

Jan Macvarish is Researcher and Lecturer at the Centre for Parenting Culture Studies, University of Kent, UK. She is the co-author of Parenting Culture Studies, (Palgrave, 2014).

1. What is neuroparenting?.- 2. The claims of neuroparenting.- 3. Neuroparenting and the quest for natural authority.- 4. Neuroparenting and the State.- 5. Getting Inside the Family.- 6. The problem with neuroparenting