The Whole-Brain Child: 12 Revolutionary Strategies to Nurture Your Child’s Developing Mind

Insightful, Practical, and Parenting-Changing
The Whole-Brain Child gave me tools I didn’t even know I needed. It breaks down complex brain science into simple, relatable strategies that actually help in day-to-day parenting. The techniques for connecting with your child before correcting really work—and they’ve helped reduce meltdowns and build stronger relationships at home. I love the real-life examples, illustrations, and age-specific suggestions. It’s empowering without being overwhelming. Whether you’re a new parent or an experienced one, this book is a must-read for understanding how kids think and feel.

Intimidating science, translated beautifully for the common reader, and applied astutely to parent-child interactions.
This is a very well conceived and executed book, and very worth your time. The authors do a tremendous job of translating neurobiology and cognitive psychology into basic language for a general audience, for use in direct child interactions. Through each of their 12 strategies for understanding and interacting with “The Whole-Brained Child,” the authors begin by describing in an unintimidating manner the portion of the brain and its function that will be subsequently discussed from a behavioral standpoint. From here, they use that behavioral basis and give very detailed examples of how to handle child behavior stemming from the associated biology, referring back to the brain as a reference point rather than as the focus.The point of the book, all science aside, is in dealing with certain child developmental features and behaviors (such as implicit memory, tantrums, fear of failure) by connecting with children directly. The science is used to serve as a backdrop but is a fascinating addition to what otherwise would be a simple behavioral book. Instead of just saying HOW to interact with children, the authors show us WHY, which lends a much greater and more nuanced understanding to the how. This book provides a unique opportunity to read about everyday situations with children and relate them quickly and easily to a neurobiological level.Though the authors say the book can be for direct childcare practitioners (such as teachers and daycare workers), the obvious target is parents. Here there are some issues. The book seems to be written for a white, suburban, middle class parent as opposed to the general population. Additionally, the practicality of some of the strategies is not immediately apparent, and the amount of effort required for many parents will be substantial – a paradigm shift for some ways. The illustrations are helpful in showing the dos and don’ts (not labelled as such, thankfully), but I found myself thinking the don’ts were many parent’s default. The strategies really are a shift in thinking and require a lot of skill and investment to execute, but they are definitely achievable. In no way does this book alienate parents with over-expectations.I also felt some situations I felt were not addressed adequately. Most of the examples of child behavior and parental involvement deal with more mundane, everyday occurrences from the ‘average’ child. If you are interested in how to explain to your child what death is, this book doesn’t venture into those dangerous waters. Nor does it address more difficult children. Additionally, the section of bringing implicit memories to the explicit is somewhat suspect in its claims and its basis, which some may find hypocritical. If implicit memories are necessarily altered as the authors say, why would a parent with altered memories of an incident helping a child reconstruct the child’s own altered memories of that same incident serve to help the child? I wonder too about parental inconsistency when using these strategies. Again, they are intensive and hard to do in the moment the behavior is being exhibited by the child. I do believe these are not major issues, however. The authors’ stress on underlying the importance of connection, integration of thought, and mindset make most of the above manageable simply by establishing a trusting baseline relationship with the child.Overall, I believe the pros of this book outweigh the negatives, though they should be noted. The authors’ ability to successfully and fluently translate incredibly intricate science to the common reader (no college degree seems necessary for reading, but a level of literacy is assumed) is no small feat. It makes me wish more laboratory experiments that have real-world implications can be taken by researchers into the hands of the people that actually need and use them on a daily basis. Parents will find the strategies difficult to implement and will certainly encounter situations not touched upon here, but this is well worth the read. And it won’t take you long…the writing style is easy to follow, the science unobtrusive and accessible, and the situations are often in dialogue-form and wonderfully vivid. Along with the illustrations and a very helpful appendix at the end denoting in which age ranges a parent should expect certain behaviors to manifest in, this book is a win.

This is an awesome book! It’s an easy, I read it all in two days. The author explains how the brain works in a very easy to understand way and gives many examples and advice on how to use it in every day life with your kids. I got so many tools to help me deal with my kid and help them be more successful and content in the future. Even if you don’t have kids I still think that this book is a good read. Most things I found do not only apply to kids, but also to adults.

Really Interesting – the book shows a technical view of the brain and its function, full of daily basis examples and at the end has a short summary that can be used during life.

J’ai beaucoup aimé ce livre (je l’avais en version numérique mais voulais également la version papier), j’ai l’impression que sa lecture m’aide réellement à mieux comprendre ma fille de 3 ans qui s’énerve beaucoup en ce moment.J’essaie d’appliquer le conseil principal : Connect then redirect” et j’ai l’impression que ça fonctionne. En tout cas cela se passe mieux avec ma fille depuis quelques jours.Je trouve que les conseils sont intéressants et que le fait de savoir que si ma fille s’énerve c’est la plupart du temps parce qu’elle n’arrive pas à comprendre ou savoir comment réagir parce que son cerveau est en cours de construction aide à être plus patiente avec elle.Je voulais la version papier pour pouvoir imprimer les BD et en discuter avec ma fille quand elle sera plus grande