Table of Contents
Foreword xi
Introduction xiii
Part 1 Brain Management as a Developmental Path 1
Marshmallows and the Developing Mind 2
Managing Your Child's Brain-Until They Can Manage It Themselves 5
Putting One Foot in Front of the Other: Monitoring Milestones 10
Kids Just Need to Be Kids 16
Executive Function Every Day 21
Not Ready for Prime Time Preschool 26
School-Age EF: Building Independence Through Routine 30
Keeping Homework in Its Place 34
Adolescent Brains Aren't Grown-Up Brains: Collaborating with Your Teen 39
You Gotta Take Care of Yourself 43
Part 2 The A-E-I-O-U and Y of Childhood Well-Being 49
Prioritizing What Matters Most 51
The Vital Role of Play 55
Putting Your Kids on a Media Diet 59
Positive Parenting with Authority 65
Limit-Setting Guides Children Toward Success 70
Chronic Stress and Communication 76
Training Your Brain to Live More Intentionally 81
Practice: Breathing Meditation 83
Bringing Mindfulness Home 84
Mindfulness Starts with You 88
EF Starts with Consistency, Consistency, Consistency 93
Books, the Brain, and Family Relationships 97
Building a Better Learner 101
Making the Choice for Intervention 105
Nothing More or Less Than an EF Deficiency 108
Facts Are Facts, Even Around Child Development 111
Grit, Mindset, and Their Relationship to EF 117
Motivation in Kids Relies on Success 120
Persistence + Skill = Resilience 123
Part 3 Practical, Positive Parenting: Self-Management Every Day 127
Behavior and the Brain: The Early Years (I Want It Now) 128
Time-Outs in Real Time 134
Behavior and the Brain: The Teen Years (Leave Me Alone … Except When I Need You) 137
Lovable and Healthy Nutrition for Children 142
To Sleep, Perchance to Sleep 147
Modeling Media Use: Parents First 152
Managing Media Through the Ages 156
Part 4 Mindfulness and Families 159
The Antidote for Perfectionism 160
Practice: Working with Your Inner Critic 163
Attention, the Negativity Bias, and Stress 164
Feeding the Right Wolf 168
Eating as a Metaphor for Mindfulness 171
Practice: Eating Mindfully 173
Managing Stress from Our Toes to Our Head 174
Practice: Body Scan Meditation 176
Emotional Rescue: Using Mindfulness to Reset Your Internal Life 177
Practice: Paying Attention to Emotions 179
Awareness of Thought: Finding the Light in Mental Storms 181
Practice: Watching the Weather 184
Shoring Up Resilience Through Mindfulness: Its All in Your Mind 186
Unhooked from Reactivity, Hooked onto Wisdom 190
Practice: Getting Unhooked 193
See a Habit to Break a Habit 194
Practice: Fifteen Breaths 197
Self-Compassion and the Average Parent 198
Practice: Self-Compassion 201
Common-Sense Compassion 202
Practice: Compassion (Lovingkindness) Meditation 204
Everyday Mindfulness 205
Mindful Kids in Context 209
Closing Thoughts: Seeing the World as It Is 211
Acknowledgments 215
Notes 217
About the Author 229