The Whole-Brain Child: 12 Revolutionary Strategies to Nurture Your Child's Developing Mind

This book is part of the "Brain Balance" predatory pop neuroscience being marketed to overwhelmed parents of challenging children. It was recommended by a child behavioral psychologist who told me she recommends it to all parents, and I'm disappointed that she thinks this book could ever be helpful. I hoped that, after the introduction, there would be practical advice that worked, even if the fake science used to describe it was bunk. Unfortunately not the case. If you wade through the (uncited) fake science, the unprofessional, awkward cartoon illustrations, and the little vignettes of parenting challenges (which are described but unsresolved), you get . . . nothing. This is a slick package without a product inside.I'm also a desperate parent, looking for a lifeline. There's no lifeline here; just lies: page after page of line drawings showing hands and houses to illustrate the crock ideas of "upstairs and downstairs brains" and "left brains and right brains." It's fine to discuss and classify human behaviors and interests using the left/right concept as a metaphor, but don't sell us a miracle cure for a problem that isn't real. Brain "de-integration" is not the cause of challenging childhood behaviors, and while it's nice to think that we could buy a book that fixes our children's brains, it's not that easy.You want the entirety of the book's advice?-When your kid is on the verge of a tantrum, don't try to shut them down with a rational explanation of why they shouldn't be throwing a tantrum. Let them have their feelings, and work from thereThat's it. The entire book. More helpful books that start with that tidbit and give evidence-based advice are Ross Greene's "The Explosive Child," Jim and Charles Fay's "Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood," and Alan E. Kazdin's "The Kazdin Method for Parenting the Defiant Child." None of which have worked a miracle in my child's behavior, but they have each, in their own way, helped me to adjust my parenting and lower my stress level as we progress through our new normal. "The Whole-Brain Child" is marketed to the same audience, but has nothing to offer.

Book is based on fake science that has been debunked (there is no such thing as left and right brain, it’s just an idea we were sold...modern neuroscience has debunked). Read the negative reviews here before you buy, if you actually appreciate, respect, and like science. The entire book is stories about children being upset and parents responding by accepting their kids feelings instead of responding harshly. IMO the info in this book is worthless, and they don’t even cite the supposed science it’s all based on.

I agree with previous reviews about this book being excessively lengthy. I also agree that a pamphlet would have been more appropriate.For the first chapter at least, a concept is introduced, explained, example provided. Okay, I got it. Rather than moving on, the book launches into story upon story to paint the picture. And it's not the short to the point stories, they're long and drawn out to the point where I'm dreading seeing stories. And then after every story is a wordy analysis that explains why the example supports the concept.Falling asleep trying to get through this book.

For some crazy reason, discipline/ emotional development and child development are conflated in the parenting space. Listen, if your book answers the question: "How do I get my kid to sit through dinner/" you have a discipline book. If it answers the question: "Why is my child upset?" you have an emotional development book. And if it answers the question: "Should my child be walking now and how do I help them learn how to walk?" you have a child development book.This book is a positive discipline book. It has next to nothing to do with child development. And while it is not a bad discipline book, it should not be calling itself child development. Just stop!

I think overall this is a good book, however most of the information (at least for me) was common sense/ information I was already aware of. I was a little disappointed, I would recommend this book if you have never been around children/ totally new to dealing with kids otherwise I think there are better options out there.

So important! I have 6 kids and am assistant director at a Daycare and this is INVALUABLE! Understanding how the brain works from a psychology standpoint in a way that helps anyone to get it is so great. I got the audible version, the hard copy and the workbook and am putting the material together to teach the teachers at our center along with Parent Effectiveness Training and The how to talk series. This is a life changer and It has given me some tools to help some autistic kids in our center as well as understand myself and other adults I know!

Seriously love this book. My daughter is 16 months old and there was a lot of very usually information for a child her age. I wish I had read this when she was first born in order to anticipate changes in her behavior and how to handle them rather than waiting until we realized we had a child that actually needed a little more than food and sleep and cuddles and diaper changes. I can see this being a useful book to revisit every few years as she grows. I learned some about myself and my husband while reading this as well. Very accessible and well written, really can't recommend it enough.

A couple of thoughts:- This book is not as bad as a 1-star but it certainly is not a 5-star one. I should have taken the 1-star review more seriously (the one that says this could have been a blog article). And, in view of that, I have decided to rate this book a 1-star also, just so people can have a more balanced view. The reality might have been a 2-star. But, would I recommend this book? No.- This book is a example textbook for people who want to know how to extend 2-3 articles into a full-blown book with a) recount of stories to play out a scenario or example, b) repetition of a simple idea 2-3x everywhere, c) an amiable / long-winded style (or maybe the stories are just not very engaging to me... Malcolm Gladwell is engaging to me if you ask me...).For example, repeat an example in the main content, repeat it in a conversation/story, and repeat it again in illustration.“Hey, how did you like the Whole-brain child Book”?” Tom asked.“I was kind of looking forward to it as a parent.” Answered Amy.“You sound disappointed.” Tom asked.“Yea, especially when the book came highly recommended on Amazon and it also seemed to be backed by science.” Amy explained."Oh, come on, it's just a book." Tom said."Hmm, the thing is... I might not have bought it or would have chosen another book if I knew it was that huge of an expectation gap.""So, you didn't like the book because you feel it wasted you time."(I am just playing… but, I hope you get the idea).- The book does have some scientific backing for 10-20% of the brain stuff. But, if you are expecting this book to tell you some of the latest scientific tips and tricks to raise a kid, then you will be very disappointed- I would suggest readers start by reading the introduction, jump to the conclusion, and take a picture / some notes of the refrigerator list - that’s the 20% of content that contributed 80% of the book. And, if you enjoy reading a really repetitive book, then buy it.On a more serious note, I do have some questions after reading this book:1) Too much of the strategies in this book relies on caretakers to help their children a) to think, and not just feel, b) the structure of the brain (e.g., left, right, up, down, or the “wheel” of focus points), and c) the notion that there has to be parents who have to be whole to be able to raise a whole-brain child.2) Too many sunny-days scenarios. It would have been nice to mention some of the pitfalls of common parenting tactics, like the use of rewards and disincentives (aka. “punishment”) and discuss them with research findings.3) There are NO real life examples of who’s whole-brain, hence it makes me wonder why this strategy is a sound one. Yes, it’s important to be balanced physically and mental and as an individual as well as a community member.I don’t know, maybe this book aims to be too “amiable”, whereas I’m trying to be analytical. But, I thought that’s what science should be - Critical and Empirical. No?P.s., this book also reminded me of a “bad” / “amiable” writer I found on Fiverr, who likes to repeat the same thing at least 2-3 times with a paragraph... And, I thought that was undesirable. But, this book taught me that I should have been more understanding and patient but reject the order anyways...

I'll echo what many others have said - this is a great book, but the authors missed one major opportunity. It may be that at the time it was published the research on the topic wasn't robust enough, or maybe they intentionally left it out, but here it is:- the extraversion spectrumWhere a child is extroverted/introverted or in between is going to have a major impact on how they experience the world, and how parents handle them. Like *major* impact. And yet the book only mentions the word 'introversion' once, commits the common fallacy that introversion is synonymous with shyness (it's not), and doesn't go into any depth at all about what introversion and extroversion actually are.In my opinion this is a significant flaw of the book, and I hope if the authors ever put out another addition that they include detail on this topic, because it's something that almost no parent understands about their children.Otherwise, the rest of it is great.

Not that great. I just kept hearing aNorth American accent as I was reading it... too much waffle and seemed repetitive. I could have read a summary of points instead of wasting time reading the whole book.

The most useful parenting book read thus far. The authors clearly explain child developmental challenges with brain activity without deep diving into the science. If anything, reading this book makes you appreciate that our little ones can only do so much with the brain they have and it's up to us as parents to guide them to realising their full potential over the years. You will become more patient with tantrums, patient that they prefer blue socks over green and you will appreciate sharing proper quality time which can only benefit us all! An excellent read. Very useful, easy to read, highly recommended. Thank you!

Easy to read and such useful information. They give you the background/science and then age-appropriate solutions to each problem you might encounter. I especially like the chapter about tantrums and how to deal with them.I’ve referred back to it a few times to remind myself of the key points and I suspect I’ll be doing so for many years to come.