#brain_integration #brain_development #parenting #child_development #english
🧠 **Key Idea:**
Helping children **name their emotions** when they're overwhelmed allows them to **calm down** by engaging the logical (left) brain to make sense of emotional (right) brain experiences.
### 🔍 What It Is
- A technique introduced in the [[The Whole-Brain Child]] by Daniel Siegel & Tina Payne Bryson.
- When a child is emotionally flooded, putting feelings into **words** helps bring **order to chaos**.
### 🧩 How It Works in the Brain
- **Right Brain** = Feels the emotion.
- **Left Brain** = Labels and makes sense of the emotion.
- **Naming emotions** connects both hemispheres →Creates jorizontal integration [[ENG - Integration Helps Different Parts of the Brain Work Together]]
- This reduces emotional reactivity and promotes self-regulation.
### 👨👩👧 How Parents Can Use It
1. **Empathize** first: “That must have felt really scary.”
2. **Label the feeling**: “You’re sad that your friend left.”
3. **Gently prompt storytelling**:
- “What happened next?”
- “Do you remember what you saw/heard/felt?”
4. **Use natural moments** (not intense standoffs):
- While playing, walking, driving, cooking.
1. **Don’t push if they resist** instead come back later when ready.
💡 **Insight:**
By **assigning names to emotions**, children can **process them, integrate their brain**, and respond more calmly in the future.
📖 **Source:**
- [[The Whole-Brain Child]]
📍 **Knowledge Compass**
🧠 **Core Idea:** [[ENG - Children Need Both Horizontal and Vertical Brain Integration]]
📖 **Technique:** [[ENG - Encouraging Children to Tell Their Own Story Helps Them Process Emotions]]
👨👩👧 **Parenting Practice:** [[ENG - How Parental Behaviors Shape a Child's Brain Development]]