The Whole-Brain Child

The Whole Brain Child, by Daniel J. Siegel, M.D. and Tina Payne Bryson, Ph.D., offers twelve revolutionary strategies to nurture your child’s developing mind. It is an excellent resource to help parents understand how a child’s brain develops and functions, and how they can help their child learn how to handle and respond to different experiences and challenges.

The message of The Whole-Brain Child is that families — both children and parents alike — aren’t stuck in their current circumstances. Parents have the ability to change these circumstances by changing the way they respond and relate, and as they do this they can literally help to change their child’s brain (and their own) in the process.

Many adoptive and foster parents have found The Whole-Brain Child to be an incredibly helpful and relevant resource as they parent children from hard places. As important, they have found that the insight this book offers and the strategies it suggests are wholly consistent with the parenting approach and strategies taught by Dr. Karyn Purvis, and highlighted on Empowered To Connect.

We want to help make the information in this book accessible to as many parents as possible, so we have provided below links to parent discussion guides by chapter as well as links to blog posts (written by Annie McClellan at Tapestry) detailing each of the 12 strategies in the book.

We hope you are able to use this material to learn how to parent your child with his or her brain in mind, and in the process improve your relationship with your child as you continue to faithfully walk the parenting journey.

Introduction: SURVIVE AND THRIVE

Chapter 1: PARENTING WITH THE BRAIN IN MIND

Chapter 2: TWO BRAINS ARE BETTER THAN ONE: Integrating the Left and the Right

Whole-Brain Strategy #1: Connect and Redirect: Surfing Emotional Waves

Whole-Brain Strategy #2: Name It to Tame It: Telling Stories to Calm Big Emotions

Chapter 3: BUILDING THE STAIRCASE OF THE MIND: Integrating the Upstairs and the Downstairs Brain

Whole-Brain Strategy #3: Engage, Don’t Enrage: Appealing to the Upstairs Brain

Whole-Brain Strategy #4: Use It or Lose It: Exercising the Upstairs Brain

Whole-Brain Strategy #5: Move It or Lose It: Moving the Body to Avoid Losing the Mind

Chapter 4: KILL THE BUTTERFLIES!: Integrating Memory for Growth and Healing

Whole-Brain Strategy #6: Use the Remote of the Mind: Replaying Memories

Whole-Brain Strategy #7: Remember to Remember: Making Recollection a Part of Your Family’s Daily Life