I've been very impressed recently by Dr Dan Siegel's work, on many levels. I've been particularly fascinated by the similarities which he spotted between the effect on the pre-frontal cortex of the brain of secure attachment and of mindfulness practices. Absolutely fascinating. I highly recommend reading his book Mindsight - very illuminating about the nature of the pre-frontal cortex, which is the neurological centre of empathy.

You'll find a review of Mindsight here - and a delightful parenting blog too!

Kindred Magazine Free Back Issues, Who Are We?, Respecting the Child, Free Audio Interview, The Greatest Pregnancy Ever mailout.evolvedwebsites.com.au/t/r-49534B6475…

— AliceAird (@AliceAird) May 14, 2012

I want to share this site called the the Centre of the Developing Child at Harvard University.  It has lots of great information, videos and interactive sections that clearly and simply explain the link between early childhood experiences and developing brain architecture of the child.  This is a site you can return to again and again as it is always being updated.  Subsrcibe to their newsletter to keep up to date.

Cllick below to watch one of the videos.

http://youtu.be/o_mCNW4kb6M

Warm regards

Dear Alice,

Thanks for your warm comments and for the tip about Robin Grille. I will put in a link in my website to promote yours and his work.

My proposal for an initial transformation rests on three pillars, which will open the door for change activities throughout society, namely 1) the balancing of egocentric messages through company advertising, with empathic messages that promotes a long-term life-affirming society, 2) national information campaign and an organized popular movement concerning a new empathic social system 3) new core subject in school called “empathy”.

Thus, empathy in school is for me a very crucial factor. I have some youtube clips on LEARN that talk about this, for example Ken Robinson, Goldie Hawn, Carol Engler, Mary Gordon, Children full of life, and Raymond Mar.

If you like my website I will be happy if you spread the link.

All the best,

Chris…

See the blog discussion about this most important book of Jeremy Rifkin's here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tag/empathic-civilization

Jeremy Rifkin is part of the discussion!

As new parents we know how hard it can be to settle our new baby and in many cases disturbed sleep is still a problem after many months.

Go to Sleep Safe Space for more information

Here are some things parents have said about how Heart to Heart has changed their parenting experience:

• I feel harmony just being in the house with my children these days. I’m really getting how to do this! Even when it changes, as parenting does all the time, and I find myself not knowing what to do, I come back to my heart and remember things I’ve learned and I find the next step to take.
  
  
• I trust myself more and the kids trust me more so things settle down again more quickly. 
  
  
• I can see when I’m connected much better now and when something I do is disconnecting our hearts. I feel it and it helps me to stop and make a choice. Sometimes I only see it later. I’m observing and reflecting more and gradually learning other ways to act from my habitual ones.…
  
  

Hullo Everyone,

I've been very thrilled to discover child psychologist Dr Ross Greene's work. Go to  http://www.livesinthebalance.org/ to learn what he offers kids, parents and teachers of "challenging kids" - these kids who've been so misunderstood and judged. Dr Greene's  "Plan B", is a collaborative problem solving approach which starts with empathy in action and leads to a solution that works for both child and adult.

This website has many videos so you can really learn the approach right there.The underlying philosophy that "children do well if they can" is clearly explained, as is how your take on what is happening changes completely your role and what you do. He debunks the myth that "children do well if they wanna". As he says, if you believe the problem is children's motivation, then you reward and punish. It doesn't work. In fact, as the real problem is children lacking skills and having…

http://barefootmagazine.blogspot.com/2011/06/listening-to-our-children-in-spaces.html