The Whole-Brain Child Workbook: Practical Exercises, Worksheets and…

The Whole-Brain Workbook continues the work done by Daniel Siegel about the impact of parental mental health on a child's development and neurological growth. It is most clearly connected to his book The Whole-Brain Child and gives parents the tools and skills necessary to not only parent more effectively but to help their children grow into emotionally healthy, flexible and happy adults who can sustain intimate connections. This workbook is more useful if you know Daniel Siegel's work and especially if you have read the Whole-Brain Child but it is still possible to do use the workbook productively. I could imagine an individual parent using this workbook yet I think it would be even better to use it with other parents and/or therapist; a chance to discuss the concepts, practice the skills and go deeper into the work. I am so impressed with the parts of the book that show parents how to teach and use the material with their own children. What a gift for a child to be specifically taught about how the brain works and how that impacts them. I also appreciated that there were no specific techniques to use per se (like most parents, I have read many of them without much success) and that parents were steered away from approaches that devalue or minimize children's feelings. I thought the exercises were easily explainable, mostly for a school age child and older, and the drawings made it lively and fun. I can imagine using it with my 10 year old child. Thank you to Edelweiss for allowing me to review this book for an honest opinion. ( )