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 brains calling the shots.

In this pioneering, practical book, Daniel J. Siegel - neuropsychiatrist and author of the best-selling 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 and age-appropriate strategies for dealing with day-to-day struggles, 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.

Listening Length

6 hours and 16 minutes
Author

Tina Payne Bryson PhD, see all
Narrator

Daniel J. Siegel MD, see all
Audible release date

7 February 2019
Language

English
Publisher

Audible Studios
ASIN

B07N96SG12
Version

Unabridged
Program Type

Audiobook
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Product details

Listening Length	6 hours and 16 minutes
Author	Tina Payne Bryson PhD, Daniel j. Siegel MD
Narrator	Tina Payne Bryson PhD, Daniel J. Siegel MD
Whispersync for Voice	Ready
Audible.com.au Release Date	07 February 2019
Publisher	Audible Studios
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B07N96SG12
Best Sellers Rank	157 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) 1 in Parenting Infants & Toddlers 1 in Developmental Child Psychology 1 in Neuroscience (Books)

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5 star		82%
4 star		12%
3 star		4%
2 star		1%
1 star		1%

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Top reviews from Australia

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Amy

Great for Nerdy Parents!

Reviewed in Australia on 18 January 2021

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Wow.
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 .

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

Changed our parenting completely

Reviewed in Australia on 22 July 2019

Verified Purchase

Felt like we were going from fire to fire just struggling to survive. This book has given us the skills to better connect with our kids when things are going wrong for them, for them to feel loved, nurtured and heard.

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.

7 people found this helpful

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Kindle Customer

Practical guidance that I will revisit regularly

Reviewed in Australia on 25 March 2022

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Insightful food for thought, clearly written. Can be applied to parents of children from all ages and even within other relationships. I especially like that they have summarised the chapters at the end of the book and also clearly illustrate how the specific strategies look for children from each age group (e.g. toddler 0-3)

Helpful

Amazon Customer

Thank you, thank you, thank you

Reviewed in Australia on 28 February 2019

Verified Purchase

Every parent or caregiver should read this. It helped me to understand, help and teach my children so much, with not much fuss. It has put things into perspective. No more feeling like I’m at my wits end or being in despair about what to do next. It has so many practical ways to tackle everything from the smallest to the bigger issues. Thank you for this wonderful gift.

2 people found this helpful

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Fiona Patterson

Beware of printing error rendering book hard to read.

Reviewed in Australia on 11 April 2021

Verified Purchase

This particular book was received with a printing error right through the book rendering it effortful to read (vertical blank line/smudge) about 2cm from the left of every page. Buyer beware. Have found it hard to continue reading due to this so can’t comment on content.

Helpful

Katie

Really helpful

Reviewed in Australia on 22 January 2020

Verified Purchase

I really enjoyed this book, it was recommended to me by a friend. I bought an extra copy to give as a gift. Very helpful explanations and recommendations, even for adults to apply to themselves.

3 people found this helpful

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markoov

Bad quality printing

Reviewed in Australia on 27 July 2021

Verified Purchase

I was shoked by the quality of paper and printing of this book. I'm not talking about the content, but the paper and printing.
I'm not happy with my purchase.
Check the attached photo

One person found this helpful

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Leigh O

Great read for everyone

Reviewed in Australia on 7 June 2021

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Would highly recommend. The writer has put this complicated subject into easy to understand language.

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SJ Tsai

Don't expect much science; Do expect lots of repetition

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 4 April 2020

Verified Purchase

A couple of thoughts:

- 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...

92 people found this helpful

Pestle

This is Snake Oil

Reviewed in the United States on 2 July 2018

Verified Purchase

This book is part of the "Brain Balance" predatory pop neuroscience being marketed to overwhelmed parents of challenging children. It was recommended by a child behavioral psychologist who told me she recommends it to all parents, and I'm disappointed that she thinks this book could ever be helpful. I hoped that, after the introduction, there would be practical advice that worked, even if the fake science used to describe it was bunk. Unfortunately not the case. If you wade through the (uncited) fake science, the unprofessional, awkward cartoon illustrations, and the little vignettes of parenting challenges (which are described but unsresolved), you get . . . nothing. This is a slick package without a product inside.
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.

2,530 people found this helpful

Nicholas McRae

Great book, but with one critique

Reviewed in Canada on 20 January 2019

Verified Purchase

I'll echo what many others have said - this is a great book, but the authors missed one major opportunity. It may be that at the time it was published the research on the topic wasn't robust enough, or maybe they intentionally left it out, but here it is:

- 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.

146 people found this helpful

Mrs Ahmad

Just read a summary of the book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 December 2018

Verified Purchase

Not that great. I just kept hearing a
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.

55 people found this helpful

Hardip F

Mixing science with child development & integration

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 3 December 2018

Verified Purchase

The most useful parenting book read thus far. The authors clearly explain child developmental challenges with brain activity without deep diving into the science. If anything, reading this book makes you appreciate that our little ones can only do so much with the brain they have and it's up to us as parents to guide them to realising their full potential over the years. You will become more patient with tantrums, patient that they prefer blue socks over green and you will appreciate sharing proper quality time which can only benefit us all! An excellent read. Very useful, easy to read, highly recommended. Thank you!

42 people found this helpful

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The Whole Brain Child: 12 Revolutionary Strategies to Nurture Your Child's Developing Mind Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

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