frustration. Spend a few minutes being with him, helping him
locate the missing piece. Put him to bed earlier so he can catch up
on his rest and handle himself better tomorrow. Often kids are
doing their best; they just need us to attend to their basic needs. As
you learn about the brain and consider all of the information we’re
oʃering here, don’t forget about the simple and the obvious, the
little things you already know. Common sense can take you a long
way.
If, though, you determine that something bigger is going on, then
it’s a good idea to think back to experiences in the past that might
be aʃecting the present situation. You may not always be able to
tie your child’s reactivity to a speciɹc event in the past, so don’t
force a connection that’s not there. But if you feel that a previous
event may be inɻuencing your child’s actions, here are some
practical ways you can arm him with tools that will help integrate
his implicit and explicit memories and achieve more control in the
way he responds to his present circumstances.
What You Can Do:
Helping Your Child Integrate Implicit and Explicit Memories
Whole-Brain Strategy #6:
Use the Remote of the Mind: Replaying Memories
Once again, one of the most eʃective ways to promote integration
is to tell stories. In chapter 2, we talked about the importance of
narrative in integrating the left and right hemispheres. Storytelling
is also a powerful activity for integrating implicit and explicit
memories. But sometimes, if a child is feeling the eʃects of an
especially painful experience from the past, she may not be ready
to remember the entire experience. In that case, you can introduce
her to her internal DVD player, which comes with a remote control