How understanding your child’s brain can help you better communicate and enjoy parenting your child.
Your child’s brain develops rapidly in a dynamic process that takes a lot of input and interaction. By understanding just how that little brain is wired, you’ll be able to understand better how to keep your child in a positive frame of mind. Helping them build a healthy emotional intelligence and enhancing the bond between you enables you both to grow and learn together.
The Owl and the Pussycat Preschool is passionate about further understanding how to navigate early childhood development and helping you navigate your child’s brain with a bit of guidance from the critically acclaimed book “The Whole-Brain Child” by Dr Daniel Siegel and Dr Tina Payne Bryson.
A Quick Guide To The Child/Toddlers Brain
Certain reactions, triggers, emotions and ideas can all be traced to different parts of your young one’s brain. To understand how to communicate with the different parts of your child’s brain, you must first understand how it’s wired. Here is your quick guide to a toddler’s brain.
- Left Brain = Logical Thinking
- Right Brain = Emotional Thinking
- Upstairs Brain = Sophisticated and Analytical
- Downstairs Brain = Primitive and Reactive
Coping With Difficult Reactions/High-Stress Situations Together
Once your child has launched into full-scale tantrum mode, or “flipped their lid” as we like to call it, the “upstairs” region of the brain is unavailable. This is where we make decisions, demonstrate empathy, maintain self-control, and so on. As a result, it’s best to wait for them to cool down or assist them in doing so before attempting to reason with them. Redirecting does not mean distracting. It means involving your child, educating them, guiding them and finding solutions together.
Appeal to your child’s upstairs brain. Keep them thinking and listening rather than simply reacting. Afterwards, remember to pause, rewind and recollect to help them process what happened. At The Owl and the Pussycat Preschool, we have seen incredible results by simply adopting these principles.
This type of co-regulation leads to your toddler’s ability to self-regulate in stressful situations later in life. These foundations are laid with secure attachment with your child’s primary caregiver (you) and secondary caregivers.
Laying Strong Foundations For Emotional Development
Attachment is a key aspect of healthy development in children. It occurs when a child grows up with a stable, consistent and reciprocal relationship with a particular person, most often the child’s primary caregiver. When the caregiver responds to the child’s needs in warm, caring ways that make the child feel comfortable, the child learns to utilise this person as a solid foundation from which to explore and, when required, as a haven of safety and comfort.
This programming influences both immediate behaviours and behaviours that arise later in development in terms of:
- Brain development
- Social & emotional development
- Self-regulation
- Trauma and attachment
Quality preschool education stems from creating environments that support healthy attachment. This is why The Owl and the Pussycat Preschool prioritises providing a space:
- That is responsive and warm
- Where we understand children’s needs
- That is empathetic and understanding when children are in distress
- Where we learn to read and respond to verbal and non-verbal cues
- Catered to spend lots of quality time together
- Where we engage in positive physical reinforcement
- Where children can play, specifically activities that support reciprocity
Local Warriewood and Collaroy Preschool Nurturing Curious Minds
Naturally, this guide can be expanded on, and it’s important to remember that each child sees the world from their unique perspective. With centres in Collaroy and Warriewood, The Owl and the Pussycat Preschool first opened its doors in 1997. That was before the daycare industry grew into what it has become today. We know what matters most behind the scenes.
You can rest assured your children are cared for and receive the proper guidance and understanding. We value your family. We value our employees. We are a family-owned and operated business with a dedicated team of professional educators and support staff. We understand the importance of the foundational role we play in your child’s life and actively contribute to their future development. If you are looking for a nurturing preschool in Warriewood or Collaroy, get in touch today.
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