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

Siegel and Bryson offer various resources and strategies that parents can consult or adapt as the need arises. Which of these resources/strategies did you find the most or least effective? How could you adapt some of these strategies in your own parenting experiences?

The Whole-Brain Child uses several extended metaphors to link concepts and chapters together. Analyze some of these metaphors. How do those metaphors help connect ideas and illuminate a larger conceptual point in the book? What other literary or rhetorical techniques do the authors use, and to what effect(s)?

Compare and contrast The Whole-Brain Child with Siegel’s Brainstorm: The Power and Purpose of the Teenage Brain. How is Siegel’s advice and insights regarding the adolescent brain different or similar to his advice for that of pre-pubescent children in The Whole-Brain Child?

Siegel and Bryson argue that children can and should be taught how the brain works as parents begin to implement strategies for better behavior and healthier relationships. What are some of the strategies they suggest, and what are the strengths and limitations of each? What other strategies, if any, might they have overlooked?

The Whole-Brain Child draws upon neuroscience to present its parenting advice as scientifically valid. How does the text reflect some of the common approaches and techniques of popular science as a genre?

One of the underlying arguments of The Whole-Brain Child is an emphasis on how integration strategies and mental health awareness can benefit adults as well as children. How do the authors make connections between benefits for adults as well as children? Is there any aspect of the advice that could potentially improve relationships apart from the parent-child one, and if so, how?

While Siegel and Bryson offer strategies and general techniques for parenting, they avoid specific discipline advice like whether to use time-outs, or specific appropriate consequences for behaviors. How could their strategies be applied to matters of discipline? How would such strategies compare to other disciplinary approaches?

Many proponents of gentle parenting include The Whole-Brain Child as a pivotal book in understanding the principles of gentle parenting. How does the text reflect, or diverge from, general conceptions of gentle parenting? To what extent, if any, could the text be compatible even with other parenting approaches?