Tips for Parents

Daniel Siegel is one of my favorite authors on the topic of parenting. He has written several books, but the two that I will use and refer to in this blog are "No Drama Discipline" and "The Whole Brain Child". The first tip I have for you all hard working (and I know how hard parenting is, as I have raised two boys who are now 18 and 21) parents is called "Flipping the Lid"

Once a child has flipped his or her lid it may look like a temper tantrum, sulking, physical aggression, crying etc. You have all seen this several times with your child, I'm sure. At this point a child's brain is not integrated, which means that the right and left hemispheres are not working together. And the bad news is, it takes many years until your child's brain is fully formed and able to control his or her emotions and impulses with the help of the PFC, the pre-frontal cortex, because this finishes its development around the age of 21-25.


The good news is, you can make a difference with your child and promote integration between the right and left hemispheres by talking him or her about their feelings and the situations that are related to those feelings in a calm and understanding way. When a child feels understood and heard as their brain has "flipped" he or she can gain control of their emotions faster and develop the emotional intelligence needed for life.

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