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The Whole-Brain Child  By  cover art

The Whole-Brain Child

By: Dr Tina Payne Bryson, Dr Daniel Siegel
Narrated by: Dr Daniel Siegel, Dr Tina Payne Bryson
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Publisher's summary

In this pioneering, practical book for parents, neuroscientist Daniel J. Siegel and parenting expert Tina Payne Bryson explain the new science of how a child's brain is wired and how it matures. Different parts of a child's brain develop at different speeds, and understanding these differences can help you turn any outburst, argument, or fear into a chance to integrate your child's brain and raise calmer, happier children. 

Featuring clear explanations, age-appropriate strategies and illustrations that will help you explain these concepts to your child, The Whole-Brain Child will help your children to lead balanced, meaningful, and connected lives using 12 key strategies, including: 

Name It to Tame It: corral raging right-brain behaviour through left-brain storytelling, appealing to the left brain's affinity for words and reasoning to calm emotional storms and bodily tension. 

Engage, Don't Enrage: keep your child thinking and listening, instead of purely reacting. 

Move It or Lose It: use physical activities to shift your child's emotional state. 

Let the Clouds of Emotion Roll By: guide your children when they are stuck on a negative emotion, and help them understand that feelings come and go. 

SIFT: help children pay attention to the Sensations, Images, Feelings, and Thoughts within them so that they can make better decisions and be more flexible. 

Connect Through Conflict: use discord to encourage empathy and greater social success. 

Public Domain (P)2020 Hachette Audio UK

Featured Article: The 10 Best Parenting Audiobooks


As many parents know all too well, there’s no official guide on how to raise your child. From all the ways you can show love and affection to the more difficult acts of helping them grow through discipline, each kid—and each family—is unique in what they need. A one-size-fits all approach doesn’t exist, which is why finding the advice and resources that best speak to you are so important. We’ve pooled together the top resources on parenting for all different styles and families, and parents looking for a wide breadth of advice.

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Every parent should read this

Great insights to the complicated yet wonderful brain made simple and understandable by the authors. It might change the way you see you children's behavior!

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1 person found this helpful

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Must read for every parent

I don’t normally post reviews but felt compelled to share that this book is a must read. Incredibly useful from start to finish.

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Great book nicely performed by the authors

Very interesting explanations on the brain. Not only for child but adults too. It gives some advices on how to react to tantrums or any emotional reactions babies and toddlers may have. The idea here is to respond adequately to children emotions so that they will grow up with a strong sense of security. I strongly recommend the book for parents!

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Insightful

Thoroughly enjoyed the book. Found the discussions about the development of the brain very helpful. Also like the examples provided in the book as they made it feel like a practitioner’s guide. Have yet to put it in practice though :)

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Insightful and practical!

Wonderful book! Finished it in a day! Could not stop listening. Definitely worth the 7 hours! Will listen again and again!

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Every mom should read it

I believe it have all the guidelines for parents to understand their kids brain so we can respect their journey

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Pleasant and uplifting

Enjoyed the book, found it light, pleasant and encouraging. Very useful advice.

Great for parents and those caring for kids.

Narrators are pleasant to listen to.

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What a valuable book!

Insight of how the mind works & practical approach on how to use this information to raise a balanced and happy child, avoid unnecessary conflicts and create a healthy bond with your child. Ofcourse to accomplish all these, you need to listen to the audiobook multiple times, do the work and never stop trying to get better at it! Thank you for this valuable book 👌

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Great for one of the first books on the topic

If you're looking for a first parenting book, then this is it. Go for it. Very clear narration, great points and easy to follow. Examples help a lot and repeats some points many times so it's a bit easier to remember.

However if you've already listened to 2+ of parenting books, then it probably doesn't have that much novel information for you. Still great to reiterate and all, but if you've had a few, then it doesn't add much. It's just overall better than others of its kind out there, but most of the content is same/similar

TLDR: first parenting book? - that's the one!
Looking for a 3rd parenting book - probably not worth the additional money/credit.

8/10

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    3 out of 5 stars

Definitely missing a cheat sheet!

I just started the book and can tell right away that this should have come with an accompanying PDF of a cheat sheet that seems to be in the book for a quick run through of the principles. Can't listen to the whole book in a minute in need

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3 people found this helpful