Blog

In preparing for a school consultation this week, I sat down and fully read The Whole-Brain Child by Dan Siegle and Tina Payne Bryson. This book has drawn substantial media attention and accolades and is well-respected in child mental health circles. I have referenced The Whole-Brain Child from time to time and pulled from its helpful visuals/pictures, but had not yet given it the time it deserves. While on a recent family vacation, I pulled from my professional bookshelf and finished the entire book in just a couple of beachside sittings. I was engrossed in this book and loved its simplicity, practical examples, visuals, and recommendations for parent-child activities. While perhaps some of the information may be oversimplified, isn’t that what we want as parents? We want simple day-to-day recommendations…and to leave the neuroscience to the neuroscientists. A few strategies I wanted to share: Connect and Redirect rather than Dismiss and Deny When your child is flooded with emotions and responding in a purely right brain manner (Right Brain = emotions, images, nonverbal, focusing on context), they need validation and an emotional connection before they can communicate with reason and/or logic (Left Brain = logic, reasoning, letter of the law, […]