Parents

Raising children presents a wonderful and challenging opportunity. Fortunately, parents and other caregivers can now have access to the practical applications of modern findings from science to help raise children well. Parenting with the brain in mind, caregivers can use findings from neuroscience to focus their parenting efforts in a way that promotes resilience in their children.

A mindsight approach to parenting builds on the findings of science which demonstrates that the most robust predictor of a child’s “security of attachment” is actually the parents’ own self-understanding. The child’s security of attachment is a scientific way of describing the relationship this fosters for a child’s resilience and mental well-being.

We know that both genes and experience play a part in shaping how a child develops. The great news is that the experiences parents provide can have a huge and positive impact on their children’s growth even in the face of inherited vulnerabilities. The other great and optimistic message from science is that it is NOT what happened to you as a child that determines how you interact with your children – it is how you make sense of what happened to you. What this means is that even if you have had a very challenging childhood, if you can make sense of those painful experiences, it will directly improve the outcome for your kids. This research also tells us, though, that if we have had difficult childhood experiences that we run away from and don’t attempt to understand in our lives, both we and our children will potentially suffer.

In this mindsight approach to parenting, we offer practical step-by-step ways in which caregivers can improve their own self-understanding so that both they and the children under their care can thrive. Ultimately, these ways of making sense of our lives improve the health of our minds, integrate our brains, and help our relationships flourish.

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Parents

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