The Power of Showing Up

How Parental Presence Shapes Who Our Kids Become and How Their Brains Get Wired

By: Daniel J. Siegel MD, Tina Payne Bryson PhD

Narrated by: Daniel J. Siegel MD, Tina Payne Bryson PhD

Length: 7 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's Summary

Parenting isn’t easy. Showing up is. Your greatest impact begins right where you are. Now, the best-selling authors of The Whole-Brain Child and No-Drama Discipline explain what this means over the course of childhood.

"There is parenting magic in this book." (Michael Thompson, PhD, co-author of the New York Times best-selling classic Raising Cain)

One of the very best scientific predictors for how any child turns out - in terms of happiness, academic success, leadership skills, and meaningful relationships - is whether at least one adult in their life has consistently shown up for them. In an age of scheduling demands and digital distractions, showing up for your child might sound like a tall order. But as best-selling authors Daniel Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson reassuringly explain, it doesn’t take a lot of time, energy, or money. Instead, showing up means offering a quality of presence. And it’s simple to provide once you understand the four building blocks of a child’s healthy development. Every child needs to feel what Siegel and Bryson call the Four S's:

• Safe: We can’t always insulate a child from injury or avoid doing something that leads to hurt feelings. But when we give a child a sense of safe harbor, she will be able to take the needed risks for growth and change.
• Seen: Truly seeing a child means we pay attention to his emotions - both positive and negative - and strive to attune to what’s happening in his mind beneath his behavior.
• Soothed: Soothing isn’t about providing a life of ease; it’s about teaching your child how to cope when life gets hard, and showing him that you’ll be there with him along the way. A soothed child knows that he’ll never have to suffer alone.
• Secure: When a child knows she can count on you, time and again, to show up - when you reliably provide safety, focus on seeing her, and soothe her in times of need, she will trust in a feeling of secure attachment. And thrive!

Based on the latest brain and attachment research, The Power of Showing Up shares stories, scripts, simple strategies, and tips for honoring the Four S’s effectively in all kinds of situations - when our kids are struggling or when they are enjoying success; when we are consoling, disciplining, or arguing with them; and even when we are apologizing for the times we don’t show up for them. Demonstrating that mistakes and missteps are repairable and that it’s never too late to mend broken trust, this audiobook is a powerful guide to cultivating your child’s healthy emotional landscape.

This audiobook includes a downloadable PDF of the Refrigerator Sheet, a summary of the Four S’s to remember in forming secure attachments.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2020 Daniel J. Siegel, Tina Payne Bryson (P)2020 Random House Audio

Critic Reviews

"Daniel Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson have spun a miracle - The Power of Showing Up is the ultimate guide to family reconnection. Clear, profound, and charmingly-illustrated, it unravels the challenges of modern parenting and reveals the simple truths about what children really need from the adults in their lives." (Wendy Mogel, PhD, New York Times best-selling author of The Blessing of a Skinned Knee and The Blessing of a B Minus)

"Parenting at this moment in time and at today’s pace feels hard. But that makes it all that much more important that we try to simplify the process of parenting and not put quite so much pressure on our own parenting shoulders. The Power of Showing Up will help you do just that. Siegel and Payne Bryson are master teachers when it comes to helping parents react and respond to kids in ways that communicate 'I hear you.' They articulate and quantify how to make your parenting easier - and better!" (Christine Carter, PhD, author of Raising Happiness)

"Daniel Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson have written their best book yet - and that is saying a lot. They have distilled their parenting wisdom - based on neuroscience research and a deep empathy for children’s needs - into a profound concept: showing up. It is one of those great ideas that seems so obvious - but only after someone has shown it to you and spelled it out clearly. Best of all, Siegel and Payne Bryson 'show up' for the reader of this book. They know parents, know their fears and anxieties, hopes and dreams, and they provide an accessible path to seeing and soothing children and providing them with safety and security." (Lawrence J. Cohen, PhD, author of Playful Parenting)

Great Educators

These 2 delivered this book in the midst of me 'losing my mind.' I've read so much Dr Siegel and was still so lost in life. "Showing Up" came right after speaking with God about what was next... sure, it's been a bit rough answering questions and facing my trauma filled past, but there truly is no better, more compassionate way to even hearing those questions that need to be answered so we can free ourselves from our pasts. Thank you both.. and your team(s) for teaching us all!

such an interesting topic!

I love learning about parenting, but this can help you look at yourself and how your previous experiences have impacted you.

Good reading to give you child PEACE

Nothing as enlightening for me having read the earlier books but I will try to at least take the lesson of giving PEACE to my tikes.

Might even be worth a wall poster to remind me when my actions do not align with PEACE for my kids.

Wonderful parenting and relationship book

If I had this book when my kids were little, it would have made the teenage years much easier. It’s never too late to repair as we react based on our own story but this book helps us reflect on our own life’s earliest memories to also repair so that we can best show up in the world.

Compulsory reading for parents and grandparents

This book bring the authors' previous books nicely together. It is insightful and practical. The "4 S" and the acronym "PEACE" are really valuable tools that are easy to remember. Using them, however, takes practice and dedication.

Our starts with you

Some parenting books provide technical tips. They provide advice on what to say and how to say it. This book and its companions focus on the mind. Principally the parents mind. After going thru a divorce, this books helped in putting myself back together. And provided the mortar with which to build a new personal foundation that I feel has made me a much better parent and fellow human being.

A book to keep in your library!

I love this book. I learned so much about my own childhood and where I’m struggling to show up for my kids and the effects that can have on them.

I’m very appreciative of the consideration and kind tone this book was written in!

Awesome

I really admire it. Everybody must get the book. I am grateful to Tina and Daniel for writing this book.

Practical,Guilt-free Parenting Help

Tina Payne Bryson and Daniel Siegel have done it again- provided easy to understand, guiltless parenting information! I regularly recommend their books!

A great book on child development / discipline

I've read several books on child development and parenting, this is one of the best. Engaging, practical, and if you are having difficulty with discipline, this is a good one to read.

Very, very helpful stuff!

Really very powerful and empowering listening. Thoroughly recommend for anyone that has a vested interest in improving their relationships with their children.

A must read

I truly loved every second of this book. It is easy to read/listen/understand. Daniel and Tina have so much knowledge amd so extremely important message for the world. Read it 😉

Very insightful

A fantastic insight with science-backed research, the importance of showing up and the four S's

Very helpful

This book gives great insight to you, your partner and your little ones. in understanding how and why react

inspiration

Absolutely adored this book. Should be required reading for every parent. I know this will be a book I will return to again and again.

wonderful book

Wonderful book., empowering, insightful, full of knowledge and just pleasure to listen to. If you read one parenting book- this is the one

Excellent

Fantastic book ... full of helpful insights ... very interesting and engaging... well worth reading for any parent