The 1 tool that can help your children reach their goals
The 1 tool that can help your children reach their goals
Before grasping the concept of whole-brain parenting, you must first understand what whole-brain thinking profiles are and what whole-brain thinking is all about. Whole-brain thinking profiles are determined by answers that a child or an adult provides to specific questions. The measuring tool uses this information to analyse, which part of the brain the individual prefers to use, take in, process and remember the information, makes decisions, communicate and respond. Let's call it the part of your brain you prefer to use the most to think, communicate, and process information.
The purpose of the whole-brain thinking profile analysis is to encourage a person to stimulate the underused parts of the brain for thinking more frequently. Getting it right, will make it possible for the adult or child to learn skills that were not possible before because they did not use those parts of the brain for decision-making, communication or problem-solving. Skills such as, being innovative, generating new ideas, communicating better with others and learning styles. Thinking with every part of your brain is what is meant by whole-brain thinking. If you know and understand your own and your child's whole-brain thinking profile, you as a parent will have the ability to become a whole-brain parent.
Whole-brain parenting means teaching your children skills and allowing them to take chances and use their unique thinking preferences to grow into successful adults. But also to teach them skills and guide them to use the other parts of their brains to thrive and perform in situations and circumstances in which their thinking preferences are not as strong.
Being a whole-brain parent does not happen overnight, but making yourself aware of some aspects that play a role in the process of making those adjustments and changes will encourage you as a parent to make work of it right away.
As a parent, start by being a good mentor for your child.
Cognitive Thinking Profiles
Cognitive Thinking Profiles
The first golden rule of whole-brain parenting is to remember that everyone is unique and that your and your child’s opinions may differ. The way you like to study, communicate and respond is not necessarily going to be the same as how your child behaves. And that is normal!
Find out what your own and your child's brain thinking profiles are and after that, you will see the challenges from a different point of view. You will understand each other better and together you can work towards building a successful future.
Using Left and Right to Explain Thinking Dominance
Using Left and Right to Explain Thinking Dominance
Here is an easy explanation to show the differences between the different brain thinking profiles and why people think and do things differently.
Think of the brain as a circle. Now divide the circle into two equal parts. Divide each half again into equal parts so that they become quarters. Take note as follows:
- Each of those quarters has a specific characteristic about how a child prefers to think. It depends on which quadrant is dominant.
- The left upper quarter is children who prefer facts and seek solutions. They are realistic and analytical.
- The bottom left are kids who like structure and routine, they usually like to approach tasks step by step.
- The top right is kids who are strategic and see the bigger picture. They are imaginative and can come up with good ideas.
- Adult thinking profiles are divided into 8 sections and have other features that are explained in depth with the analysis.
- The bottom right is kids who have good people relations and will sometimes put others' needs above their own just to keep others happy.
The point is to determine how you and your child prefer to think, and what your preferences are. It will facilitate the process of whole-brain parenting and whole-brain thinking development.
Mentoring Your Children
Mentoring Your Children
As a parent, you play a very important role in your children’s lives. You need to set an example that they can follow, that process must be implemented from a young age. Understanding your own and their brain thinking profiles will help you not only be a good example to them but also an excellent mentor to them.
Be a good mentor who encourages change, motivates your children and teaches them the skills from an early stage to become entrepreneurs, to think of creative ways to solve problems and to always think positively. Explain each feature of the different parts of the brain, what it means and how to use it. When they understand this, parents can help them with suggestions and by creating other scenarios about what will happen if the problem is approached and solved in a different way.
Whole-Brain
Whole-Brain
Because everyone is different from each other, your child is going to get into situations where he is going to deal with people who do not think like him or do things the same way as your child. Therefore, you need to develop your children’s whole brains, so that they will be comfortable interacting with others with different brain thinking profiles.
Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship
Good leadership, communication and listening, critical thinking, strategic thinking and planning are some of the skills a good entrepreneur needs and by being a whole-brain parent and teaching them to always have a holistic approach, you can help the child to be stimulated in these areas and learn those skills.
Teach your children to generate new ideas or even to improve old ideas by allowing them to explore the different outcomes.
Entrepreneurship teaches you the skills to solve problems and if it is developed from a young age, children will not only learn to be entrepreneurs but also to innovate and come up with new and original ideas that can help them with a business opportunity.
Make sure you listen to your children’s ideas and do not shoot down their bad ideas. Instead, motivate them to further develop the idea and give them guidance and motivation to make changes if necessary.
Give them whole-brain exercises to perform for example researching the product and whether there is a market for it. Ask them to write down step-by-step instructions on how to make it. They have to work out a budget of how much it is going to cost to make and how much they are going to sell it. What profit do they expect to make? Encourage them to design a logo and slogan and after that, they should roleplay where you pretend to be the customer so that they can learn how to treat and deal with clients.
By making those 4 steps part of their planning, you teach them to think with each quadrant of their brains, and that was a whole-brain thinking process.