Most of us are familiar with right and left brain distinctives.
We know that... (in general, though its actually much more complex!)
Left brain involves, rational, logical, orderly, objective thinking.
We accept that there are "left brained" people, that go into fields like mathematics, engineering, and accounting.
Right brain involves holistic, intuitive, creative, big picture thinking.
We accept that there are "right brained" people that thrive as musicians, artists, creative writers, etc...
But what we often don't hear is that we were MADE for both sides to function together as an integrated whole. Our brains respond to our relational experiences. People who we call "left brained" may lack empathy, an ability to experience emotion and consider the bigger picture. People we call "right brained" may lack the ability to think clearly and make rational decisions when they become flooded with emotion.
As parents, we know that our children's brains are not fully developed, and yet we can foster the integration of both sides, so that our children can learn to grab ahold of the amazing functions that are needed at different times from either side.
Young children are right-brain dominated. They learn by sensing things from their environment and they are not yet able to use language to express themselves. When a child begins asking "why" all the time, you can tell their left brain development is kicking in-- they are looking to make sense of their experiences with words.
Why is it important to help children integrate right and left? Because you don't want your children to live in an emotional desert (L-dominated.) But we don't want children to be overtaken by an emotional flood (R-dominated.) We want them to learn and grow from their difficulties.
In the next post look for Siegel's first strategy for helping children integrate both right and left sides of their brain.
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