My partner spoils me. They went to a book store after work one day and texted “What books do you want me to get you?” Talk about love, right? Today I’ll be discussing one of the books I requested that talks about the connection between the brain and body. I just finished it minutes ago. Let’s discuss.
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An Essential Parenting Book
I first heard of Mona Delahooke, PhD in a peaceful parenting social media group. I bought her book Beyond Behaviors: Using Brain Science and Compassion to Understand and Solve Children’s Behavioral Challenges but haven’t read it yet. The book I’ll discuss today is her newest release Brain-Body Parenting: How to Stop Managing Behavior and Start Raising Joyful, Resilient Kids.
The contents of her book make a lot of sense. I learned so much about my children, myself, and what I can do to assist my tribe. In Chapter 3 she states when a child is struggling “the middle ear muscles shift away from distinguishing the nuances of human voices, to hearing low-frequency and predatory sounds.” This single fact changed my perspective for when my kids enter the “fight or flight” mode.
The book discusses many important concepts, it’s hard to narrow it down. One that spoke to me was that in order for a child to successfully regulate themselves, they must first experience co-regulation with others. Another stresses the importance of childhood play; Delahooke reminds the reader that the child MUST lead the play activity. I loved how she titled Chapter 8 which is “Tantrums Throw Toddlers” where she introduces a simple formula to help toddlers calm down. All the important neuroscience you’ll have to experience yourself in her book.
The Verdict
Overall, this was an extremely helpful resource. I’m glad I have my own copy as I will reference it often. If you are anything like me, your parental perspective will forever change after reading this book. I’m also excited to read a book she mentioned called The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy: Engaging the Rhythm of Regulation by Deb Dana. There is still much to learn.
A big thank you to Mona Delahooke, PhD. I happily added Brain-Body Parenting to my parenting blog post. Now to read her other book…
Have you read it yet? What did you think? Check out the non-fiction section for more great reads.
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