The book is a lavish production: full colour throughout, loads of photos and interesting quotes from the Child of Our Time parents. Its real value, though, is in all the practical parenting tips, techniques, benchmarks and experiments.

More than a book of a TV series, this is a great how-to manual for parents, underpinned by thorough research. Just flipping through the 2-3 year old chapter now, there are tips and ideas on exercise and activity, feeding styles and food refusal, memory, finding out your child's sense of pride, curing irrational fears, how to praise, a language checklist, games to play with 2-year-olds, discipline tactics, tantrum tips, sleeping and nightmares.

Each chapter is packed with just about everything you want to know about what's going on with your child's development for the age they're at. And if you've watched the show and want to recreate some of the experiments, many of them are in the book. Even at almost 400 pages it's very readable, and there's a thorough index if you want to dip into it for a particular problem.

Having seen the parents and children in the book featured in the TV series, this book is very real-world and an inspiration to read. If you have a child under five, or are thinking about it, this is a great one-stop parenting reference book.