Part 1 Development of Young Children Under Three -- Physical and motor development -- Cognitive development -- Language development -- Social and emotional development -- Part 2 Parenting and Child rearing in Family -- Family interaction patterns and child development -- Marital conflict, mother’s distress and children’s adjustment -- Father involvement in child rearing: From historical and cultural perspectives -- Home learning environment and the development of emergent literacy of children under three -- Quality of parents-children interaction and toddlers’ aesthetic development -- Families’ needs and selection of early care and education outside family -- Early Care and Education outside Family -- Situation and problems of early care and education outside family -- Action research on curriculum provided by center-based day care -- Action research on collaboration between Community, Family and Kindergarten in provision of early care and education -- Teacher-children interaction and transition of young children under three -- Part 4 Policies and Regulations -- Policies on care and education for children under three: current situation, problem and future development -- Prediction of demographic tendency of population under three and challenges to policy on care and education: in the context of new birth control policy -- Families’ child-bearing wishes, social needs for provision of center-based care, and policy on care and education for children under three.

This book reports on the findings of a series of studies on the development of zero-to-three-year-old Chinese children supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities. The studies were conducted by a research group at the Institute of Early Childhood Education, Beijing Normal University. In the first part of the book, findings concerning the developmental trajectory are presented, including physical and motor development, cognitive development, language development, social and emotional development. The focus of the second part is on the effect of family environment and practices. Specifically, the authors provide empirical evidence allowing readers to better understand how the home environment and educational practice in the family impact the psychological development of children in their early years. In the last part, culture-specific issues like the new universal two-child policy in China are discussed. Most of the parts are based on large-scale investigations and analysis of the status quo, complemented by small-sample studies and case studies. The findings presented here will promote theory building and public understanding of early care and education in China. Moreover, the behavior observation scales and assessment tools developed by the research group are cultural appropriate and may serve as a foundation for further studies on early care and education in the Chinese cultural context. .