I read a biography of Mister Rogers that showed just how much he'd studied childhood development. I feel like I picked up some things just by learning what he'd emphasized (based on the state of the art in child developmental psychology at the time he was filming his show.)
I also read "The Drama of the Gifted Child," which makes the point that smart children run into their own problems. (Basically, they're smart enough to try to please their parents - which can end up locking them in to specific personalities that are less fulfilling than they could be.)
