Many parents lose sleep over the riddle of their children's social life. What makes one child popular and another scorned? How can parents best foster social skills? What should a kid be taught about dealing with bullies, and when should a parent step in? These ques-tions are as old as families, but they're taking new form and fresh urgency in an era when schoolyard arguments too often get resolved with guns. A new book--Best Friends, Worst Enemies: Understanding the Social Lives of Children (Ballantine)--delves into these mysteries with uncommon sensitivity and intelligence.
The book is the work of three formidable...