Parenting from the Inside Out: How a Deeper Self-Understanding Can Help You Raise Children Who Thrive: 10th Anniversary Edition Kindle Edition

The reviewers that gave this book less than 4-5 stars are exactly the people that need to re read this book. We see the world through the lens of memory and everything in our past influences our behavior. While this is not a " how to " manual for solving certain problems step by step with our children, it is a much deeper and longer lasting fix. It helps the reader to self examine and become the kind of parent they want to be instead of the kind of parent that they are programmed to be based on their family history.I think this is a fantastic book for parents that are serious about being the best people they can be for their children. I wish it was written 30+ years ago when I had my first child.If you are fairly intelligent and want to prepare yourself to be the best parent you can be ( any age child ) - do yourself and your kids a favor. Get the book. I wish they taught this stuff in school.

I loved how this book opened. It was about how our childhoods affect how we parent our children. Of course, we all know that, but sometimes we are subconsciously affected in ways we don't realize. Sometimes, we might actively try to correct our parents' wrongs without realizing the negative effects of that reaction. This book makes us more mindful of our actions. It's less of a parenting book (as in how to parent) than a book for understanding ourselves so we can be better parents.At the end of each chapter are exercises and discussion about the science behind it all. My mind numbed a little at times, so you can skip these sections if you want. About midway through the book, I started to feel like the authors droned on a little too long. I get it already; you've made your point. Now how do I put this info to good use? The last quarter of the book, we get some answers, though they are a little vague. There's never really a do it this way or try that. If you want hard core parenting advice, you won't find it here. I found the book useful, though, for making me more self-aware.

I do a lot of work in emotional health and trauma recovery and personally this has been THE biggest game changer of my parenting. It was incredibly easy for me to use my emotional health tools to analyze my child but she was still struggling no matter what I did. I ended up going to therapy JUST to figure out how I could mother such a hard kid and my therapist recommended this book. It is quite difficult for me to read and process but I am hopeful that as I process my own childhood trauma that slowly and steadily I can become a safe place for my daughter. Thank you Dr. Siegel.

This book sheds light on why we act and react in the way that we do when it comes to relationships with our children. It is a nice guide for putting your own life into perspective so that you can bond more deeply with your child. It has been eye opening for me. It is written in a somewhat text book style at a pretty high reading level. It’s very heavy on the neuroscience, which at times can be a tad bit painstaking to decipher and interpret meaning for folks who don’t have any formal scientific background or experience. It also says that it is not a “how to” book but a “how we” book and that is 100% accurate in my assessment. You won’t necessarily learn how to cope with raising your children, you will gain understanding as to why you tend to cope the way that you do cope. This understanding could be very helpful in helping you raise coherent, emotionally secure children. Since starting this book, my capacity for empathy and understanding for both my son and myself has grown immensely. My bottom line on this book is that it is good background knowledge and especially helpful for people who have a sense of unresolved issues from their own childhood. Wouldn’t recommend this as a first book to reach for if you are struggling with parenting issues however. It’s more for people who are looking for deeper resolution to problematic patterns in their parenting journey and for people who enjoy and appreciate neuroscience.

I liked this book overall. I thought the explanations for why kids behave like they do were good, and how our reactions as adults can overwhelm us also makes sense. But some of the "deeper" explanations were either overwhelming or questionable. Specifically I am talking about1) The scientific explanations overall were quite dense and overly detailed. I did appreciate them, just thought they should have been paired down.2) The notion of attachment theory is not universally accepted these days by the scientific community. This book presents it as absolute fact and then basically says it's your fault as a parent if your child is not securely attached by age 1. Not sure if that's the right message to give to new parents.3) Same with the left/right brain dichotomy. It's a useful way of thinking about things, but at the same time it's been somewhat debunked (there doesn't seem to be a complete isolation, like the author claims) and in my opinion was presented too dogmatically as well.That being said, this book was written a while ago, before some of the new research came out for #2/3. So it's not as much the author's fault necessarily, more just something to keep in mind as the reader and something that makes this book less useful in my opinion.But overall I thought it had good advice on how to de-escalate interactions with children and how to think about them, and it's worth reading for that.

My dil had this book on her wish list and I couldn't refuse. She has been reading it and is really liking how the authors help you parent better based on "Drawing on stunning new findings in neurobiology and attachment research, they explain how interpersonal relationships directly impact the development of the brain, and offer parents a step-by-step approach to forming a deeper understanding of their own life stories, which will help them raise compassionate and resilient children." quote taken from the authors.

If you are going to read just one book about parenting, this is it. Search no more. This really insightful book is not only a parenting one but also a self development one, hence a great parenting book...

Incredibly helpful, well written, enlightening and digestible. Even if you don't have kids, you would benefit from this book because you were a kid yourself, and at it's core this book is about making sense of your own childhood programming and how to live a fuller, more connected meaningful life - both for your kids and yourself. Highly recommend!

No easy answers, no quick tips. It is profound. For some the principles will be easy to apply, for me not at all easy, but the truth in this book is plain. I am trying, and already it has revolutionised my relationship with my 5yo son ... and it feels only half way done.

This book focuses on helping you understand you and why your children provoke the response they do. Living with little clones of you is the best way to discover all your faults and foibles. Still leaves you with lots of questions.

Dr Dan Siegel really should be taught to all parents... the best understanding of infantile developmental needs and how best to understanding your kids. Brilliant work!

Very heavy language. Quite academic