Child Development Neuroscience

In a time when so many children and young adults seem to be struggling, parents are looking for help in bringing up mentally healthy kids who are equipped to thrive. Finally, evidence-based help is now available for overwhelmed parents who are trying their best but feel like they’re falling short.

One of the very best scientific predictors for how any child turns out - in terms of happiness, academic success, leadership skills, and meaningful relationships - is whether at least one adult in their life has consistently shown up for them. In an age of scheduling demands and digital distractions, showing up for your child might sound like a tall order. But as best-selling authors Daniel Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson reassuringly explain, it doesn’t take a lot of time, energy, or money. Instead, showing up means offering a quality of presence.

Greer Kirshenbaum, PhD. is a neuroscientist, doula, and parent. Her work began with the goal of developing new treatments for poor mental health; she dreamed of creating a new medication to address conditions like anxiety, depression, addiction, and chronic stress. Over time, she realized that science had already uncovered a powerful medicine for alleviating mental health struggles, but the answer wasn’t a pill. It was a preventative approach: when babies receive nurturing care in the first three years of life, it builds strong, resilient brains.

When facing contentious issues such as screen time, food choices, and bedtime, children often act out or shut down, responding with reactivity instead of receptivity. This is what New York Times best-selling authors Daniel J. Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson call a No Brain response. But our kids can be taught to approach life with openness and curiosity. When kids work from a Yes Brain, they’re more willing to take chances and explore. They’re more curious and imaginative. They’re better at relationships and handling adversity.

Just as sturdy scaffolding is necessary when erecting a building and will come down when the structure grows stable, good parenting provides children with steady and warm emotional nourishment on the path toward independence. Never-ending parental problem-solving and involvement can have the opposite effect, enabling fragility and anxiety over time.

Before journalist Chelsea Conaboy gave birth, she anticipated the joy of holding her newborn, the endless dirty diapers, and the sleepless nights. What she didn’t expect was how different she would feel—a shift in self, as deep as it was disorienting. Something was changing: her brain. New parents undergo major brain changes, driven by hormones and the deluge of stimuli a baby provides. Conaboy delves into the neuroscience to reveal unexpected upsides, generations of scientific neglect, and a powerful new narrative of parenthood.

In Mind in Motion, psychologist Barbara Tversky shows that spatial cognition isn't just a peripheral aspect of thought, but its very foundation, enabling us to draw meaning from our bodies and their actions in the world. Our actions in real space get turned into mental actions on thought, often spouting spontaneously from our bodies as gestures. Spatial thinking underlies creating and using maps, assembling furniture, devising football strategies, designing airports, understanding the flow of people, traffic, water, and ideas.

Navigating parenthood is hard enough on its own. If you are faced with a blended family situation or are worried about your child’s emotional development, you may have spent hours looking for ways to help you on your parenting journey. Many people struggle with emotionally unresponsive children or have trouble navigating a new life with their stepchildren. If you have tried disciplinary techniques that don’t work, it may be your approach that needs to change. Welcome to the simple road map you have been looking for!

You can train your brain to pay attention more effectively. Acclaimed neuroscientist Dr Amishi Jha has dedicated her life's work to understanding the science of attention at every level - from brain-imaging studies in the lab to field testing soldiers, firefighters and athletes. Her mission has been to scientifically determine how we can harness the full power of our attention to better meet all that life demands. 

Searching for a roadmap to raise a successful child who makes a positive difference in this world? Neuroscientist and mother Erin Clabough teaches that to thrive as adults, children need to learn self-regulation, a master life skill founded in empathy, creativity, and self-control. The lack of even one of these intertwined skills underlies nearly all of the parenting problems we face.

Supported by academic research focused on technology, Media Moms and Digital Dads breaks down complex issues in a friendly, accessible fashion, making it a highly useful and ultimately reassuring listen for anyone worried about the impact that media might be having on young minds. Dr. Uhls ends each chapter with a summary of the science, a bottom line for quick takeaway, and tips and guidance for parents.

Let's face it, especially these days, there's a lot going on and things are constantly coming at us to the point where overload sets in and mentally our brain is just not handling it. If that describes you, there's something you can do about it starting now. Get your hands on Train Your Brain: Mental Toughness Training for Winning in Life Now! You can't go wrong with this audiobook because it's written to improve your cognitive skills and throughout the process your brain will not be overworked.

As parents we all want the best for our child, but so often we give in to societal pressures which can result in us overmanaging every aspect of their lives, leaving them overwhelmed, overscheduled and lacking motivation. This can terrifyingly lead to mental health problems as adolescents and adults. How can we prevent this happening to our children? Over their combined 60 years of practice, William Stixrud, a clinical neuropsychologist, and Ned Johnson, the founder of an elite tutoring agency, have worked with thousands of children all facing this problem.

An indispensable guide that empowers parents to understand and recognise anxiety in their children and to help them to develop strategies to manage it together. Parents hold the key to helping their children with the strains of our always-on world. Love In, Love Out helps parents to step back and learn to understand the anxiety that an increasing number of children experience at one time or another.