The Whole-Brain Child
12 Proven Strategies to Nurture Your Child's Developing Mind
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4.9 • 15 Ratings
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- £7.49
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- £7.49
Publisher Description
In this pioneering, practical book for parents, neuroscientist Daniel J. Siegel and parenting expert Tina Payne Bryson explain the new science of how a child's brain is wired and how it matures. Different parts of a child's brain develop at different speeds and understanding these differences can help you turn any outburst, argument, or fear into a chance to integrate your child's brain and raise calmer, happier children.
Featuring clear explanations, age-appropriate strategies and illustrations that will help you explain these concepts to your child, The Whole-Brain Child will help your children to lead balanced, meaningful, and connected lives using twelve key strategies, including:
Name It to Tame It: Corral raging right-brain behavior through left-brain storytelling, appealing to the left brain's affinity for words and reasoning to calm emotional storms and bodily tension.
Engage, Don't Enrage: Keep your child thinking and listening, instead of purely reacting.
Move It or Lose It: Use physical activities to shift your child's emotional state.
Let the Clouds of Emotion Roll By: Guide your children when they are stuck on a negative emotion, and help them understand that feelings come and go.
SIFT: Help children pay attention to the Sensations, Images, Feelings, and Thoughts within them so that they can make better decisions and be more flexible.
Connect Through Conflict: Use discord to encourage empathy and greater social success.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Neuropsychiatrist Siegel (Parenting from the Inside Out) teams up with psychotherapist Bryson in this brain guidebook for parents. The authors assert that parents can have a positive and important impact on helping kids develop brain skills. Siegel and Bryson clearly explain how the brain develops, pointing out specific examples of the brain at work in various situations (e.g., a four-year-old who melts down when left at preschool is working from her right brain; a 12-year-old who denies her emotions after a quarrel with a friend operates from the left brain). The authors offer 12 strategies parents can use to help their children integrate the various parts of the brain. For instance, a strategy called "Connect and Redirect" is used when a child is having a tantrum; it's best to connect with the right or emotional side of the brain, offering comfort, and later appeal to the left or logical brain when the child has calmed down (when a child is upset, logic often doesn't work). Siegel and Bryson reveal that an integrated brain with parts that cooperate in a coordinated and balanced manner creates a better understanding of self, stronger relationships, and success in school, among other benefits. With illustrations, charts, and even a handy "Refrigerator Sheet," the authors have made every effort to make brain science parent-friendly.
