Is your toddler throwing tantrum in the middle of a store? Does your preschooler refuse to get dressed? Do children conspire to make their parents’ lives challenging?
No—it’s just their developing brain calling the shots!
When you understand how your child brain is wired and how it matures you will be able to handle the meltdowns and aggravation more skillfully.
First it is important to know that the “upstairs brain,” which makes decisions and balances emotions, is under construction until the mid-twenties, particularly in young children, the right brain and its emotions tend to rule over the logic of the left brain (D. Siegel & T. P. Bryson). This is why children can seem and feel so out of control.
Learn to apply these findings to everyday parenting, and you will be able to turn any outburst, fight, or fear into a teaching moment. You will contribute to the integration of your child’s brain and assist his growth. You can learn key strategies to raise calmer, happier children using twelve key strategies, including
• Name It to Tame It: Surround raging right-brain behavior 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.
• Use physical activities to shift your child’s emotional state.
• Guide your children when they are stuck on a negative emotion, and help them understand that feelings come and go.
• 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.
Complete with clear explanations, age-appropriate strategies for dealing with day-to-day struggles, and illustrations that will help you explain these concepts to your child. You can cultivate healthy emotional and intellectual development so that your children can lead balanced, meaningful, and connected lives.
San Diego Couples and Family Therapy serves the surrounding areas of Sorrento Valley Road as La Jolla, UTC San Diego, Del Mar, Rancho Santa Fe, Rancho Bernardo, Rancho Penasquitos, Poway, University City and Escondido.
