POF11: What’s Going on in Your Kid’s Brains?

Learning about the brain is the foundation of peaceful and nonviolent parenting.  It’s because of what we know now about children’s brains, that will serve you in understanding your child so much better!

I’ll explain exactly what’s going on for your child (brain-wise) in the middle of a meltdown and the best way to parent them through it!

I’ll explain how dopamine comes into play when you kids are watching a screen or playing video games so screen time doesn’t turn into SCREAM TIME!

What happens to your kids after school?  Are they grouchy, needy, whiney, argumentative, or oppositional?  I’ll share with you why and how you can move forward to ensure you get their needs met so you can have more peace and cooperation

Listen on to find out what’s really going on in that brain of theirs!

Robbin is a Certified Parent Coach, author and speaker.  She works with parents from all over

the world to help them build more connection and find more joy and cooperation in their parenting.

Robbin is a former ‘Angry Mom’ and for over 12 years, Robbin juggled a full-time corporate career while being a mom and wife, prior to becoming a Parenting Coach.  In her corporate career, Robbin has a background in marketing and public relations, training, and event planning. She understands firsthand how many moms struggle to balance work and family.

It’s because of her struggles as a parent that she found the world of peaceful parenting and has dedicated her life to teaching parents how to build a strong family, so their kids thrive. 

Robbin’s work focuses on building and strengthening the parent child relationship so that children grow up with resilience, confidence and strong emotional intelligence.  She works with parents to help them understand their own emotions and frustrations in parenting, so they can help build their children’s sense of self without losing themselves in the process!

In October of 2018 Robbin released her first book, “The Yelling Cure – How stress less and get your kids to cooperate without threats & punishments.” Her book is being read by parents all over the world 1000,000 copies sold to date.

www.yellingcurebook.com

Robbin divides her time working with her clients, speaking at events and spending time with her two boys and husband.  You can usually find her at a hockey rink or sports field cheering on her boys.  Most importantly, Robbin has changed the way she parents and connects with her sons and is dedicated to helping parents find the same joy, connection and cooperation in their families.

www.yellingcurebook.com

Robbin@parentingforconnection.com

www.parentingforconnection.com

www.facebook.com/parenting4connection

www.instagram.com/robbinmcmanne_parentcoach

From the Podcast:

Our brains grow from the lower brain at birth (responsible for survival), to our higher brain (responsible for rational thought, reasoning, problem solving compassion, and all the other good stuff!) which is fully grown around the age of 25.

From birth to age 7 our kids are living in their emotional brain (middle brain) so they often have displays of irrational behavior... this is them just acting their age!

In the middle of a meltdown, our kids are stuck in their middle brain with no access to rational thought so this.is.not.the.time.to.parent.your.child!

Our young kids are living in this world of giants and trying to make sense of everything they are experiencing.  Throughout their day, they experience frustrations and upsets that they literally have no way of dealing with or articulating.  As they go about their day and experience these frustrations and upsets, they are building stress hormones until it comes to a critical point.  And our young ones actually have a built-in mechanism to help them release the pressure...it’s called a meltdown or tantrum! They are totally normal and to be expected.  So, if this is the way they are wired, then we need not fight against them. 

What if we showed up with acceptance of their emotions and said, “I know you need to cry right now, lets sit together until there aren’t any more tears”. 

What a gamechanger that would be!

Screen Time

When your child is watching TV or on a screen or gaming, allow them some time to transition back to reality.

Remember they are literally immersed in their own little world so be there to help them come back to reality.  Follow these steps:

1. Go to your child and sit with them

2. Ask them questions about what they are watching/playing

3. When they answer you, they are back in the here and now

4. Make your request

Afterschool

Your kids have been showing a lot of self-control while at school all day so it’s only natural

that they will need to release their emotional, mental and physical pent up energy as soon as school is over. 

Here are some tips to set them up for success!

• Allow them some grace to make mistakes and even act a little wild – your energy of acceptance is a powerful force in helping them to relax (if you are stressed, they will be stressed)
• Allow them time to play and run around after school
• Give them space from being at school to doing homework...it can wait, let them relax a bit first. 
• Feed them a nutritious snack
• Introduce some mindfulness time. Deep breathing calms the mind, body and nervous system. Have them lie down and put a stuffed animal on their tummy and tell them to focus on moving the animal up and down for at least 10 breaths
• Set an intention for yourself when you are reunited with your kids: “I will show up with patience when my child shows that he/she has extra energy to burn”

Thanks for listening!

It means so much to me that you listened to my podcast! If you would like to purchase my book or other parenting resources, visit me at

www.yellingcurebook.com

With this podcast, my intention is to build a community of parents that can have open and honest conversations about parenting without judgement or criticism.  We have too much of that! I honor each parent and their path towards becoming the best parent they can be.  My hope is to inspire more parents to consider the practice of Peaceful Parenting. If you know somebody who would benefit from this message, or would be an awesome addition to our community, please share it using the social media buttons on this page.

Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a note in the comment section below!

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