Dr. Daniel Siegel

The Power of Showing Up: How Parental Presence Shapes Who Our Kids Become and How Their Brains Get Wired

Length: 34:30

Dr. Daniel Siegel is a clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine and the Executive Director of the Mindsight Institute. He has authored or co-authored several books including Parenting from the Inside Out, The Whole Brain Child, No Drama Discipline, Brainstorm, The Yes Brain, and The Power of Showing Up.

Summary:
The research on child development says that one of the very best predictors for how a child turns out is whether they had at least one person who showed up for them. Showing up improves happiness, social and emotional development, leadership skills, meaningful relationships, and even academic and career success. In this conversation with Dr. Dan Siegel, he explains how parents and caregivers can show up for their kids.

Links:

Website

Dr. Joseph Lee

How Collective Parenting Can Address ACEs, Racism, and Inequality

Length: 50:07

Dr. Joseph Lee is a psychiatrist with a practice in Southern California. Early in his practice he saw that his patients were clearly getting better, but didn’t seem to be quite “well.” His search to help people truly thrive, led him to a truth-based perspective that he’s been applying personally and professionally, built around developing self-worth, meaningful relationships, and lifelong optimal healthiness. Becoming a parent, made him more intentional about every aspect of his own life – trying to figure out the best way to raise his kids, while maintaining his own health and wellbeing.

Summary:
Usually we talk about how to build the resilience of an individual–a child or an adult–rather than how to build resilience as a group of people. Dr. Joseph Lee has a fresh new perspective on resilience. He talks about how to create resilience at the level of a family, community, city, or even a country, through a new concept that he calls Collective Parenting.

Links:

Website

Dr. Rick Hanson

Resilient: How to Grow an Unshakable Core of Calm, Strength, and Happiness

Length: 40:16

Dr. Rick Hanson is a psychologist and Senior Fellow of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley who writes and teaches about the essential inner skills of personal well-being, psychological growth, and contemplative practice – as well as about relationships, family life, and raising children. With his wife Jan he wrote Mother Nurture: A Mother’s Guide to Health in Body, Mind, and Intimate Relationships. As a long time meditator, Rick became increasingly interested in the meeting of modern brain science and ancient contemplative practices, he went on to write Buddha’s Brain, Just One Thing, Hardwiring Happiness, Resilient, and Neurodharma.

Summary:
Dr. Rick Hanson talks to us about how to grow our resilience in ourselves and our kids. He talks about how to have an unshakable core of calm, especially when the circumstances in our life are stressful and we’re struggling even to meet basic needs for safety, satisfaction and connection. In tough times, it’s even more important to develop our own internal resources, such as grit, compassion, inner strength, patience, generosity, and confidence. Dr. Hanson shares some simple tools for where to start.

Links:

Website

Dr. Peter Gray

Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life

Length: 58:18

Dr. Peter Gray, a research professor of psychology at Boston College. His recent research focuses on the role of play in human evolution and how children educate themselves, through play and exploration. He wrote Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life, he also authors a regular blog called Freedom to Learn for Psychology Today magazine. His own play includes not only his writing and research, but also long distance bicycling, kayaking, cross country skiing, and vegetable gardening.

Summary:
Dr. Peter Gray talks about the importance of play and how it relates to learning. As a culture we have become obsessed with measuring children’s education with standardized tests and limiting their freedom with adult-led activities and homework. Dr. Gray explains that education is the sum of everything we have learned that makes life meaningful for each of us. Education is different for each person and it cannot be measured. Play is how kids learn and is an important part of what makes us human.

Links

Freedom to Learn Blog

Iris Chen

From Tiger Parenting to Peaceful Parenting and Unschooling: One Mother’s Journey to Self Awareness

Length: 37:04

Iris Chen is a blogger, unschooling mom, and founder of the Untigering movement. After seeing the negative effects of tiger parenting on her relationship with her children, she began to deconstruct her authoritarian ways. Now, she’s on a mission to empower others to untiger by promoting self-awareness, peaceful parenting, and educational freedom for children.

Summary:
Iris Chen shares her story about how she transitioned from Tiger Mom to Peaceful Parent. She talks about the importance of autonomy and self direction, and how how she motivates her kids to do their homeschooling. Iris also talks about when her son asked her to limit his screen time and why she told him “no”.

Links:

Website
Facebook Page