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The Whole-Brain Child: 12 revolutionary strategies to Nurture Your Child's Developing Mind Paperback – 21 March 2012
Tina Payne Bryson (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
Daniel J. Siegel (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
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Your toddler throws a tantrum in the middle of a store. Your preschooler refuses to get dressed. Your 11-year-old sulks on the bench instead of playing on the field. Do children conspire to make their parents' lives endlessly challenging? No - it's just their developing brain calling the shots!
In this pioneering, practical book, Daniel J. Siegel, neuropsychiatrist and author of the bestselling Mindsight, and parenting expert Tina Payne Bryson demystify the meltdowns and aggravation, explaining the new science of how a child's brain is wired and how it matures. The 'upstairs brain', which makes decisions and balances emotions, is under construction until the mid-20s. And especially in young children, the right brain and its emotions tend to rule over the logic of the left brain.
By applying these discoveries to everyday parenting, you can turn any outburst, argument, or fear into a chance to integrate your child's brain and foster vital growth. With clear explanations, age-appropriate strategies for dealing with day-to-day struggles, and illustrations that will help you explain these concepts to your child, The Whole-Brain Child shows you how to cultivate healthy emotional and intellectual development so that your children can lead balanced, meaningful, and connected lives.
'Siegel and Bryson have created a masterful, reader-friendly guide to helping children grow their emotional intelligence. This brilliant method transforms everyday interactions into valuable brain-shaping moments. Anyone who cares for children - or who loves a child - should read The Whole-Brain Child.' Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence
- ISBN-101921844779
- ISBN-13978-1921844775
- Edition1st
- PublisherScribe Publications
- Publication date21 March 2012
- Dimensions13.5 x 1.5 x 20.7 cm
- Print length192 pages
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Product description
Book Description
About the Author
Tina Payne Bryson, PhD, is a pediatric and adolescent psychotherapist, parenting consultant, and the director of parenting education and development for the Mindsight Institute. A frequent lecturer to parents, educators, and professionals, she lives near Los Angeles with her husband and three children.
Daniel J. Siegel (Author)
Daniel J. Siegel, MD, received his medical degree from Harvard University and completed his postgraduate medical education at UCLA, where he is currently a clinical professor. He is the executive director of the Mindsight Institute, and the author of numerous books, including the bestsellers Mindsight and Brainstorm, as well as No-Drama Discipline and The Whole-Brain Child (co-authored with Tina Payne Bryson). He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and occasionally with his launched adolescents.
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Product details
- Publisher : Scribe Publications; 1st edition (21 March 2012)
- Paperback : 192 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1921844779
- ISBN-13 : 978-1921844775
- Dimensions : 13.5 x 1.5 x 20.7 cm
- Best Sellers Rank: 52 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 3 in Neuroscience (Books)
- 20 in Parenting (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the authors
Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs, and more
Daniel J. Siegel, M.D. is a graduate of Harvard Medical School and completed his postgraduate medical education at UCLA with training in pediatrics and child, adolescent, and adult psychiatry. He is currently a clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine, founding co-director of UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center, founding co-investigator at the UCLA Center for Culture, Brain and Development, and executive director of the Mindsight Institute, an educational center devoted to promoting insight, compassion, and empathy in individuals, families, institutions, and communities.
Dr. Siegel’s psychotherapy practice spans thirty years, and he has published extensively for the professional audience. He serves as the Founding Editor for the Norton Professional Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology which includes over 70 textbooks. Dr. Siegel’s books include his five New York Times bestsellers: Aware: The science and practice of presence, Brainstorm: The Power and Purpose of the Teenage Brain, Mind: A Journey to the Heart of Being Human, and two books with Tina Payne Bryson, Ph.D.: The Whole-Brain Child and No-Drama Discipline. His other books include: The Power of Showing Up and The Yes Brain (also with Tina Payne Bryson, Ph.D.), The Developing Mind, The Pocket Guide to Interpersonal Neurobiology, Mindsight, The Mindful Brain, The Mindful Therapist, and Parenting from the Inside Out (with Mary Hartzell, M.Ed.). He has been invited to lecture for the King of Thailand, Pope John Paul II, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Google University, and TEDx.
For more information about his educational programs and resources, please visit: www.DrDanSiegel.com and www.mindsightinstitute.com.
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I didn't buy or read many parenting books before I had my little one, but recently I've bought a few about child development because I find it fascinating! I listened to 'The Whole Brain Child' on audio and had to buy the paper copy too. This book is basically twelve strategies for fostering healthy brain development and also helps parents to understand what is going on with children's behaviour and how to use everyday moments to foster your child's brain development. In saying that, I have found it incredibly approachable with some interesting science thrown in too. Bonus: it didn't make me feel like a crappy parent! Anyway, I recommend this for any other geek parents like me who'd like a science-y way to understand and help their little people grow .
The background of how the brain related to our thoughts, emotions and behaviours is a huge eye opener and has not only helped with our parenting but looking at ourselves and how our own past issues affect our parenting.
Every parent who is struggling day to day or feels like they are constantly just telling off their kidswithout connecting will benefit from this.
The audiobook narration is great. Both authors do a great job reading the material.
I'm not happy with my purchase.
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I'm not happy with my purchase.
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Top reviews from other countries

- This book is not as bad as a 1-star but it certainly is not a 5-star one. I should have taken the 1-star review more seriously (the one that says this could have been a blog article). And, in view of that, I have decided to rate this book a 1-star also, just so people can have a more balanced view. The reality might have been a 2-star. But, would I recommend this book? No.
- This book is a example textbook for people who want to know how to extend 2-3 articles into a full-blown book with a) recount of stories to play out a scenario or example, b) repetition of a simple idea 2-3x everywhere, c) an amiable / long-winded style (or maybe the stories are just not very engaging to me... Malcolm Gladwell is engaging to me if you ask me...).
For example, repeat an example in the main content, repeat it in a conversation/story, and repeat it again in illustration.
“Hey, how did you like the Whole-brain child Book”?” Tom asked.
“I was kind of looking forward to it as a parent.” Answered Amy.
“You sound disappointed.” Tom asked.
“Yea, especially when the book came highly recommended on Amazon and it also seemed to be backed by science.” Amy explained.
"Oh, come on, it's just a book." Tom said.
"Hmm, the thing is... I might not have bought it or would have chosen another book if I knew it was that huge of an expectation gap."
"So, you didn't like the book because you feel it wasted you time."
(I am just playing… but, I hope you get the idea).
- The book does have some scientific backing for 10-20% of the brain stuff. But, if you are expecting this book to tell you some of the latest scientific tips and tricks to raise a kid, then you will be very disappointed
- I would suggest readers start by reading the introduction, jump to the conclusion, and take a picture / some notes of the refrigerator list - that’s the 20% of content that contributed 80% of the book. And, if you enjoy reading a really repetitive book, then buy it.
On a more serious note, I do have some questions after reading this book:
1) Too much of the strategies in this book relies on caretakers to help their children a) to think, and not just feel, b) the structure of the brain (e.g., left, right, up, down, or the “wheel” of focus points), and c) the notion that there has to be parents who have to be whole to be able to raise a whole-brain child.
2) Too many sunny-days scenarios. It would have been nice to mention some of the pitfalls of common parenting tactics, like the use of rewards and disincentives (aka. “punishment”) and discuss them with research findings.
3) There are NO real life examples of who’s whole-brain, hence it makes me wonder why this strategy is a sound one. Yes, it’s important to be balanced physically and mental and as an individual as well as a community member.
I don’t know, maybe this book aims to be too “amiable”, whereas I’m trying to be analytical. But, I thought that’s what science should be - Critical and Empirical. No?
P.s., this book also reminded me of a “bad” / “amiable” writer I found on Fiverr, who likes to repeat the same thing at least 2-3 times with a paragraph... And, I thought that was undesirable. But, this book taught me that I should have been more understanding and patient but reject the order anyways...

I'm also a desperate parent, looking for a lifeline. There's no lifeline here; just lies: page after page of line drawings showing hands and houses to illustrate the crock ideas of "upstairs and downstairs brains" and "left brains and right brains." It's fine to discuss and classify human behaviors and interests using the left/right concept as a metaphor, but don't sell us a miracle cure for a problem that isn't real. Brain "de-integration" is not the cause of challenging childhood behaviors, and while it's nice to think that we could buy a book that fixes our children's brains, it's not that easy.
You want the entirety of the book's advice?
-When your kid is on the verge of a tantrum, don't try to shut them down with a rational explanation of why they shouldn't be throwing a tantrum. Let them have their feelings, and work from there
That's it. The entire book. More helpful books that start with that tidbit and give evidence-based advice are Ross Greene's "The Explosive Child," Jim and Charles Fay's "Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood," and Alan E. Kazdin's "The Kazdin Method for Parenting the Defiant Child." None of which have worked a miracle in my child's behavior, but they have each, in their own way, helped me to adjust my parenting and lower my stress level as we progress through our new normal. "The Whole-Brain Child" is marketed to the same audience, but has nothing to offer.

- the extraversion spectrum
Where a child is extroverted/introverted or in between is going to have a major impact on how they experience the world, and how parents handle them. Like *major* impact. And yet the book only mentions the word 'introversion' once, commits the common fallacy that introversion is synonymous with shyness (it's not), and doesn't go into any depth at all about what introversion and extroversion actually are.
In my opinion this is a significant flaw of the book, and I hope if the authors ever put out another addition that they include detail on this topic, because it's something that almost no parent understands about their children.
Otherwise, the rest of it is great.

North American accent as I was reading it... too much waffle and seemed repetitive. I could have read a summary of points instead of wasting time reading the whole book.
