Penelope Leach CBE | |
|---|---|
| Born | Penelope Jane Balchin 19 November 1937 Hampstead, London |
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater | Newnham College, Cambridge London School of Economics |
| Occupation | Psychologist |
| Spouse |
Gerald Leach
(m. 1963; died 2004) |
| Children | 2 |
| Parent(s) | Nigel Balchin Elisabeth Balchin (née Walshe) |
Penelope Jane Leach CBE (née Balchin; born 19 November 1937) is a British psychologist who researches and writes extensively on parenting issues from a child development perspective.
Leach is best known for her book Your Baby and Child: From Birth to Age Five, published in 1977, which has sold over two million copies to date and won the BMA award for "best medical book for general audiences" in 1998. Leach notes in the introduction to that book: "Whatever you are doing, however you are coping, if you listen to your child and to your own feelings, there will be something you can actually do to put things right or make the best of those that are wrong."