Are young children really sexual? You don't mean they are sexual like adults, do you? No, I don't mean that they are sexual like adolescents or adults. But the course of human sexuality begins in utero and continues throughout childhood and adolescence into adulthood.

This book traces the course of that development from infancy onward, explaining how a sense of maleness or femaleness develops in infancy and how knowledge of sexuality grows and matures throughout childhood and adolescence. Understanding the nature of sexuality in childhood and adolescence is extremely valuable in raising children because it provides parents and other adults with an understanding of what is happening mentally and physically to the child or adolescent and guidelines for how to interact, answer questions and guide children toward the development of healthy sexuality.

Based on 50 years of treating children and adolescence, and raising three of his own, child and adult psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, Calvin A. Colarusso M.D. provides, in plain English, multiple examples of interactions between parents and children on this critical and fascinating aspect of development.

Think of this book as a guide to understanding a subject that many adults know little about, and some disbelieve.

Why Size Matters: Child and Adolescent Sexuality provides information on the following subjects:

The formation of sexual identity in infancy.
The discovery of genital difference in males and females.
The meaning of infantile sexuality.
The competitiveness of the three to six year old.
Why size matters -and it's not what you think.
Why elementary school boys and girls hate each other.
The profound effects of puberty.
Infatuation, sex and love in adolescence.

About the author: An eminent authority in the field of child and adolescent development, Dr. Colarusso is a Board Certified, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California at San Diego, where for two decades he served as Director of the Child Psychiatry residency Training Program.

He is also a Training and Supervising Analyst in child and adult psychoanalysis at the San Diego Psychoanalytic Institute and an internationally known lecturer to students, professionals, and the general public on many aspects of normal and pathologic development.

His books have been published in English, Korean, and Spanish. See www.calbooks.info. He has published over fifty articles and book chapters in peer-reviewed journals.