Parenting from the Inside Out

Outline

Parenting from the Inside Out (2003) explains how parents’ own childhood experiences shape the way they raise their children. Daniel Siegel and Mary Hartzell combine findings from neuroscience and attachment research with practical exercises that help parents make sense of their life stories, understand their emotional reactions, and build secure, connected relationships with their children.

• The way you were raised as a child shapes how you raise your own children, often without you noticing.
• Making sense of your own life story helps you understand why you react the way you do.
• Self-awareness and emotional insight let parents respond with empathy instead of instinctive reactions.
• Findings from neuroscience and attachment research explain how parents' emotional patterns affect their children.
• Practical exercises help parents build secure, connected relationships with their children.

Daniel Siegel and Mary Hartzell bring together expertise in psychiatry and early childhood education. Siegel is an American psychiatrist, clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine, and executive director of the Mindsight Institute, known for books such as Mindsight and The Whole-Brain Child. Hartzell is an American early childhood educator who spent decades directing a preschool in Santa Monica, California, and teaching parents and teachers about child development and relationships.