The Whole-Brain Child

needed his downstairs brain—in this case, his amygdala—to take over and do exactly what it did: cause him ...

anyone nearby. As you know if you’ve found yourself in this situation, the best way to ease him through thi ...

degrees much of the time, depending on their age. But for the most part, kids just don’t have the bio ...

push buttons and terrorize you until she get what she wants. Despite her dramatic and ...

often even leads to negative results. A downstairs tantrum is completely diʃerent. Here, a child beco ...

your child’s temperament, but what’s most important is that you help soothe him and steer him away from ...

upstairs-downstairs knowledge can be. Now let’s talk about other ways you can help develop your child’s upstai ...

young man. Go sit down and eat your lunch or you won’t get any dessert.” At times option #1 might be a ...

with your plan.” I tousled his hair, returned to the table, and watched his once-again adorable face show ...

could actually be receptive to what we had to say, we discussed the importance of being respectful ...

But as we parent and discipline our kids, we are given so many opportunities to interact in ways that eng ...

Instead, she engaged the upstairs brain by ɹrst directing her daughter to use more precise and ...

after opportunity to exercise their upstairs brain so that it can grow stronger and more powerful. As y ...

the consequences. Whenever you can do so responsibly, avoid solving and resist rescuing, even when t ...

helped her pack for camp. He asked whether she expected to feel homesick while she was away. When he rec ...

While you’re reading together: “How do you think Melinda is feeling now that her friend moved away ...

Morality All of the above attributes of a well-integrated upstairs brain culminate in one of our most ...

while controlling themselves and working from empathy and self- understanding, they will develop a robust a ...

active. Two days after Liam started ɹfth grade, he felt completely overwhelmed by the amount of homework h ...

into the conversation, something changed in his brain. After a few minutes of exercise, he was able to calm ...