Empathic Parenting

Accordingly, Penelope is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society, a Vice President of the Health Visitors' Association and President of the Child Development Society, in the UK, and sits on the professional board of the Institute for Child, Adolescent and Family Studies in the U.S. but she also works in various capacities for parents' organisations concerned with prenatal education and birth; pre-school education and day-care and for various children's organisations, especially those concerned with children's rights. She works closely with the NSPCC and its sister organisations in the United States and Canada; is a sponsor of KidsPeace and is a founder and parent education coordinator for the End Physical Punishment Of Children (EPOCH WORLDWIDE) campaign. She is also a member of Britain's fourteen-strong Commission on Social Justice.

Her first book, Babyhood, was designed to bring the best of academic child development research to parents and was fully revised in 1983. The first edition of Baby and Child appeared in 1977. Now in its second million and 29 languages, a new edition for the 1990's appeared in 1989 and again in 1994 by A,A Knopf. It was in response to readers who wrote saying "Help, we're running out of book!" that The Parents A-Z; A handbook for children's health, growth and happiness from birth through adolescence was first published in 1985. (all are available in Penguin). She still feels, though, that the first months with a first baby are crucial to family happiness. In 1986 she wrote The First Six Months: coming to terms with your baby (Collins) In 1987 she wrote and presented in Britain a series of three home videos spanning the first five years: Becoming a Family; Baby to Toddler: and Toddler to Child (Virgin Video); in 1989 she wrote and presented In the US a Home video, Your Baby !Sidney Place Communication, and in 1990 The Babypack, illustrated by Shirley Hughes, used a "pop-up book" format to convey parenting information.

In 1991 Penelope collaborated with Mike Dalton and the Pop-Up Theatre group in writing a play for 3-7 years olds - Snap Happy - which successfully toured schools and nursery groups and is now part of various programmes of education for non- violent conflict-resolution. She is currently writing and presenting her own ongoing television series for parents Your Baby and Child with Penelope-Leach, (Lifetime Cable Network) for which she won the CableAce for best informational or documentary host in 1992. Her new book, Children First pleads for political and economic changes to bring what is offered to young families into line with what is known of the needs of both children and parents and was published by A.A. Knopf in February 1994 and as a Vintage Paperback.