From the Koemba Book Club:
Parenting From the Inside Out
This is one of my most well-fingered and underlined books on Parenting. Neuroscientist and psychiatrist Daniel Siegel has teamed up with an early childhood and parenting educator, Mary Hartzell, to produce a highly informative and very readable book. The ‘heavy’ scientific information is marked in grey boxes – so you can keep to the practical reading only if you prefer.
There are also ‘Inside-Out Exercises’ for the Parent to reflect on the material in their own context. I’d love to see this book as required reading for educators. If you’re serious about Parenting – this book is a must.
WELCOME TO THE DISCUSSION ON ONE OF MY FAVOURITE PARENTING BOOKS! I WILL WRITE MY COMMENTS IN CAPITALS. PLEASE WILL ALL OTHER PARTICIPATORS WRITE IN LOWER CASE, SO THAT MY COMMENTS / READING SUGGESTIONS CAN BE EASILY RECOGNISED. PLEASE READ THE INTRODUCTION AND MAKE A SHORT COMMENT – PERHAPS SHARING WHAT YOU ARE HOPING TO GAIN BY STUDYING THIS BOOK, A QUESTION THAT IS ARISING FOR YOU OR PERHAPS SHARING A QUOTE YOU PARTICULARLY LIKE.
We learn from the introduction that this book arose from the encouragement of enthusiastic parents who had benefited from the collaboration of the authors in presentations , one an educationalist parent and grandparent the other the psychiatrist parent of a child in the pre-school run by the first. So I hope to share in that enthusiasm brought about by the approach which they shared. Their message is that we all have it in us to parent well even if our reflection on our own childhood reveals that not everything there should be blindly followed. Key to their approach is mindfullness, respect for the child’s emotional and creative aspects and openness to learning as a life-long process, one of the blessings and challenges of being a parent.
Thanks for getting the ball rolling Anne. To other students joining in, even a one-liner introducing yourself is helpful as we kick off.
I found the Introduction appealing and interesting and it certainly had the effect of arousing my interest in the rest of the book. While I found the “anchor points” to parenting clear and compelling I could not help feeling that if we indeed managed to parent our children like that we would have a certain Utopia of Parenting going on. I feel the points they are going to help us work through in the book are, as Koemba would say, a “journey”, one that can take a long time and may be difficult to navigate. I found the points of Being Mindful and Joyful Living particularly appealing and as a parent of a young child I am drawn to start working on those points straight away.
I just got my new copy of Parenting from the Inside Inside Out, and i cant wait to start reading it. A comment on the back cover really resonated with me. “this is not just a book for those committed to being the best possible parents they can be. Its for anyone committed to a continued and deeper understanding of the human psyche and to looking beyond the personal self to what really is motivating us. Its applicable to all our interpersonal relationships, but most especially to our most treasured one: the one with our children.” I “happen” to be experiencing a period of intense psychological growth and i,m expecting the book to be very apt to to that experience in particular, my role as a parent coach, and all of my life .
THANK YOU TO ANNE, FLORENCE AND CHARLY FOR GETTING THE BALL ROLLING. I AGREE THAT ‘JOYFUL LIVING’ AND ‘BEING MINDFUL’ARE ASPECT WORTH COMMENTING ON. AS YOU INDICATE, FLORENCE,THIS BOOK IS ALSO ABOUT US IN OUR OWN LIFE JOURNEY. HOPEFULLY THE OTHERS ARE GOING TO JOIN US AS WE START CHAPTER ONE. PLEASE SHARE INSIGHTS, QUESTIONS OR A SHORT FAVOURITE QUOTE FROM THIS CHAPTER. I ENCOURAGE YOU TO JOURNAL RE THE ‘INSIDE-OUT’ EXERCISES ON PAGE 29.(THE FOLLOWING PAGES 30- 37 ARE NOT ‘ESSENTIAL READING’ BUT ARE HELPFUL TO INCREASE YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE NEUROLOGY ASPECT OF THIS BOOK, IF THAT INTERESTS YOU.
I have just finished chapter one and found myself with mixed feelings! On the one hand it’s a very inspirational read, I really want to get to know myself and my triggers and my own childhood experiences that may cause certain reactions in my attitude to my daughter, however on the other hand it’s a little bit daunting. All those dormant attitudes and beliefs and experiences that you are possibly going to stir to life. I don’t know perhaps I’m being really sensitive. However I do find the whole idea of neurobiology fascinating. I like the way the chapter was divided into an introductory section, an exercise section and a more detailed science section. I have yet to start journaling as suggested in the book as i’ve only just finished but will head out to buy a lovely new notebook to start. Looking forward to delving deeper into the book in the coming weeks.
Sorry I’m only joining in now. I had been searching book shops for this book, but not in stock. I eventually got around to ordering it online two weeks ago and am still waiting on it to arrive from Amazon! I’m off on hols soon, so hope to have it before we leave. Then I’ll do lots of catch up reading while away (coz the 3 little children won’t require my attention on hols – LOL yeah right!!!!). Looking forward to learning loads and refreshing my Koemba skills from the book 🙂