Parenting From the Inside Out (Paperback)

by Daniel Siegel (Author), Mary Hartzell (Author) "When we become a parent, we bring with us issues from our own past that influence the way we parent our children..." (more)
Key Phrases: toxic ruptures, develop mindsight, mindsight abilities, New York, Guilford Press, Digging Deeper (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"Daniel Siegal and Mary Hartzell have quite deftly managed to translate highly complex neuroscientific and psychological matters into lay strategies for effective parenting. This is truly a must-read book for the parents and those aspiring to becomeparents"

Product Description
How many parents have found themselves thinking: I can't believe I just said to my child the very thing my parents used to say to me! Am I just destined to repeat the mistakes of my parents? In Parenting from the Inside Out, child psychiatrist Daniel J. Siegel, M.D., and early childhood expert Mary Hartzell, M.Ed., explore the extent to which our childhood experiences actually do shape the way we parent. Drawing upon stunning new findings in neurobiology and attachment research, they explain how interpersonal relationships directly impact the development of the brain, and offer parents a step-by-step approach to forming a deeper understanding of their own life stories, which will help them raise compassionate and resilient children.

Born out of a series of parents' workshops that combined Siegel's cutting-edge research on how communication impacts brain development with Hartzell's thirty years of experience as a child-development specialist and parent educator, Parenting from the Inside Out guides parents through creating the necessary foundations for loving and secure relationships with their children.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Tarcher (April 22, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1585422959
• ISBN-13: 978-1585422951
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,771 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Parenting from Inside the Parent Brain, September 29, 2006

By	Ann Douglas "pregnancy/parenting author" (Peterborough, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

While other authors have focused their attention on the brain of the developing child (What's Going on in There by Lise Eliot, Ph.D. and The Scientist in the Crib by Alison Gopnik, PhD, Andrew N. Meltzoff, Ph.D., and Patricia K. Kuhl, Ph.D.), in their book Parenting from the Inside Out: How a Deeper Self-Understanding Can Help you Raise Children Who Thrive, Siegel and Hartzell zero in on what's going on inside the parent's brain -- specifically how new research in the areas of neurobiology and attachment theory can help parents to understand why they parent the way they do and what they can do to use that knowledge to become better parents.

The authors stress the importance of making peace with your past so that you can avoid repeating any negative patterns of family interaction with your own kids: "In the absence of reflection, history often repeats itself and parents are vulnerable to passing on to their children unhealthy patterns from the past. Understanding our lives can free us from the otherwise predictable situation in which we recreate the damage to our children that was done to us in our own childhoods....By making sense of our lives we can deepen a capacity for self-understanding and bring coherence to our emotional experience, our views of the world, and our interactions with our children."

The book's content is excellent, but it's pretty heavy-going at times. The authors offer the reader a mix of straight narrative, introspective journaling exercises, and lessons in neurobiology. It's all fascinating stuff, but it requires a lot of focus and attention. Definitely not to be attempted with a child in the room!

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Parenting from the Inside Out, November 18, 2004

By	T. Allender (Vail, CO) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Parenting from the Inside Out (Hardcover)

This parenting book is far more than a "how-to". It examines the importance of the parent child relationship from the perspective of the child's neurological and social development. It challenges parents to examine their own upbringing and to evaluate how their experiences as a child now influence their functioning as a parent. The premises exlpained in the book are supported by recent breakthroughs in brain research. As a psychotherapist who works with children and famlies, this is the book I recommend the most to my clients. At times the writing in the book is somewhat techinical in nature, but there are many stories and exercies for parents that are beneficial even if the reader doesn't understand all of the language.

90 of 106 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars As simple as it is profound, as warm as it is scientific, April 22, 2003

By	Jon Fried (Millburn, NJ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Parenting from the Inside Out (Hardcover)

It's impossible to say something can change your life without slipping into cliche-land, but this book is all about the possibility of change and the crux of life: brain, to mind, to heart, and though the book is too grounded in science to say it, to soul; it's the neurology behind the fact that mind is love; but more than anything the ideas in this book are simply fascinating and useful! I have read other work by Dan Siegel and each time I revisit his sythesis of brain science, attachment theory and a warm-hearted psychiatrist's view of Buber's I-Thou, I am filled with new thoughts and emotions.