Talk, Read, Play offers a basic guide to help steer the best way through raising children. In this book, Cristina outlines a strategy that involves total concentration, in 25-minute bursts, across three areas of engagement: talk, read and play. This method gives us the opportunity to make the greatest impact in the time we spend parenting. It seeks to free the full-time parents to take regular breaks and the full-time working parent from the guilt that hangs over them when they are not engaging with their child.

'Twenty-five-minute parenting' is not a short-cut to a lifelong task. Instead, this is a book that offers a range of activities through which parents can concentrate completely on their children. The 25 minutes can fit into a day or be the last thing we do at night; the activities are geared for different ages, from the youngest to the oldest.

Cristina Odone is an Italian British journalist, editor and writer. As head of Family Policy Unit for the Centre for Social Justice, Cristina has spent four years interviewing more than 100 psychologists, sociologists, teachers, neurologists and 'parenting experts' about raising children. Prior to joining the CSJ, Cristina founded the Parenting Circle charity, which she chairs.