ALPHABETICAL BRAIN™ VOCABULARY
HUMANIST FAMILY BRAIN STUDY

green separator

FAMILY BRAIN MINDFULNESS
December 29, 2018

green separator

You can teach children to become brain savvy by showing them that they can organize their time with the goal of making fair decisions as they grow up to become adults. As you both learn the new brain ideas in an altruistic humanist family context, the new rational scientific insights about the brain's structures and the mind's functions can become more useful in everyday decision-making and problem-solving situations.

The book, 10 MINDFUL MINUTES, by Goldie Hawn and Wendy Holden, describes a wonderful way to introduce children at home or in the classroom to a sensible brain vocabulary and many skill-sets. They can empower children to enjoy more meaningful lives by teaching kids self-development skills and brain vocabularies that help them understand the history of humanity from a humanistic perspective.

The book publication data is shown in the following information box:


10 MINDFUL MINUTES:
giving our children (and ourselves) the social and emotional skills to reduce stress and anxiety for healthier, happy lives

by Goldie Hawn and Wendy Holden. A
Perigee BookPenguin Group,
2011 (218 pages)


The book suggests that parents and teachers can teach children to think of the two parts of their prefrontal cortex (PFC) as if they were "Two Wise Owls" since they are the primary source of their conscious self-awareness. The two prefrontal cortices are located above each eye about an inch below the forehead. They are about the size of a penny in the front section of both the left and right cerebral hemispheres.

See the following brain diagram, which illustrates the location of the two parts of the prefrontal cortex and the way they are connected to the two parts of the hippocampus through the neuronal pathways of the cingulate cortex:

Prefrontal Cortex Image

The questions you ask yourself as a parent and caretaker of children can involve the most serious kinds of intellectual activity as you make your own life meaningful within the social context that you were born into, and then later, within the personal context that you create for yourself and your children.

The idea of having two wise owls, inside their brain as shown in the following diagram, can enable children (and adults) to make choices and be kind to each other once they are permanently stored in their long-term memories:

A CHILD'S PREFRONTAL CORTICES
CAN BE THOUGHT OF AS BEING LIKE
TWO WISE OWLS




THE TWO WISE OWLS ARE LOCATED
AT THE FRONT OF THE BRAIN ON
EACH HEMISPHERE


The other essential part of the human brain that can be taught to children at home or in the classroom is the function of the amygdala. This vital brain function can help children regulate their emotions when they learn that their amygdala is like a "Guard Dog."

The amygdala gland is divided, just like the prefrontal cortex, and the two parts are linked together in the bottom front of the structure of the limbic system complex. It is surrounded by both cerebral hemispheres, most closely the sides of the two temporal lobes.

They can activate feelings of anxiety, anger, fear, and pleasure. And they are directly involved in many memory functions. The following diagram shows the location of the amygdala glands in relation to the other seven major parts of the limbic system: complex.



Children can use the idea of having an amygdala gland symbolized as a "guard dog" to empower them (remind them) of a brain function they can use to control a variety of feelings from glad to sad and feelings of anger and fear. See the picture of the "guard dog" in the following diagram:

A CHILD'S AMYGDALA CAN BE
THOUGHT OF AS BEING LIKE
A GUARD DOG




THE TWO AMYGDALA GLANDS ARE
LOCATED AT THE FRONT OF BOTH
HEMISPHERES IN THE LIMBIC SYSTEM


Children can be taught by their parents and teachers to recognize the hostile feelings directed at them by bullies at school or in their neighborhoods who express angry feelings during interactions, and use their "guard dog" knowledge to defuse such situations through reasoning instead of outright hostility or submissiveness.

In addition, teachers and therapists have become alarmed by the huge amount of screen time that many children devote to their hand-held devices (smartphones and tablets) instead of having face-to-face conversations with their parents, peers, and teachers to learn about the expression of real emotions and to learn how to control them.

Nevertheless, it is important for parents and children to be aware of the extreme importance of face-to-face contacts with other human beings within the family or classroom context. That is the best way for children to learn how to express proper healthy emotional responses and also how to respond to the unhealthy angry feelings of others.

Also, the amygdala glands can excrete other hormones and neurotransmitters to activate positive emotions, which are involved in the expression of happy, loving feelings, if children are taught to understand and express friendly feelings.

The Humanist Solution is for parents to take advantage of the remarkable ability of their own brains and, especially, the brains of their children, to adapt to all kinds of situations. By learning how to name and understand the parts of their brains, children can learn to adapt to all kinds of emotional situations and control their own behavior better.

It is important that children know what causes specific brain functions. And they need to learn the true basis of their own consciousness and self-awareness and self-identity.

A child's self-awareness is caused by his or her prefrontal cortex (executive function), which directs intentional behavior and operates in combination with the brain's long-term memory system.

The brain's neuroplasticity refers to the creation of new synapses and changes in the patterns of connections inside neuronal pathways. And synapses connect neurons inside the neuronal pathways of your body's brain and nervous system to each other and to muscles, organs, and glands. The brain and nervous system are now known as your connectome.

The educational training model behind this new approach to explaining the importance of understanding the brain's structures and the mind's functions is called "whole brain" thinking. It involves a group of cognitive skill-sets easy for children to learn.

In addition, you can train your children to resist the adverse impacts caused by the overwhelming distractions of commercials and entertainment options and avoid useless time-consuming or innocuous trivial social behaviors and dangerous addictive habits, by staying focused on agreed upon goals and plans.

To be effective, you must discuss the desired behaviors continuously and model them always in your daily activities with your children as you provide them with rewards for their effort to ask questions and learn from both mistakes and successful achievements.

green separator

Printable PDF Form
FAMILY BRAIN MINDFULNESS

RECOMMENDATION: You may print this pdf version and read it and edit it by adding or deleting ideas. You can underline or highlight with colored inks. All of these memory boosters can help you capture the important information in your long-term memory.

Then, read your edited version of these ideas according to a reinforcement schedule, such as a few hours later and a few days later and then several times in the next week or two to take advantage of the power of the spaced-repetition method of memorization. Deep introspection can change your self-identity and increase your positive emotions.

green separator

instantly return to:
HOW CAN HUMANIST PARENTS
TEACH THEIR CHIDREN
TO LOVE THEIR BRAINS


green separator
produced by
Infinite Interactive Ideas™