When my first child was born 16 months ago I was given a subscription to a child development newsletter called Growing Child. Each month I’m emailed a newsletter appropriate for my daughter’s age, which tells me what I can be expecting her to 'do' – all those developmental milestones. It suggests tasks I can give her to stimulate her development and includes useful tips on fostering important skills such as social competence or empathy.

I look forward to getting them. They’re written by child development experts. They reassure me that (for the moment at least) my daughter is 'on track' with her development and they encourage me to think about the things that my partner and I can do to help her along. There aren’t enough of this kind of resources for parents. Friends cry out “What should I do now? She/he never came with a manual!” Growing Child is something like the next best thing.

But there’s a health warning with these kind of resources as well. They can create anxiety when one's child is not able to achieve the appropriate task (although arguably that might be taken as a useful sign of the need to seek help) or bewilderment if she or he seems more interested in eating the new Baby Einstein book than poring over the contents!

So It was heartening to read this month, alongside the usual newsletter, an article that captured a valuable lesson about savori