The Yes Brain

How to Cultivate Courage, Curiosity, and Resilience in Your Child

By: Daniel J. Siegel M.D., Tina Payne Bryson

Narrated by: Daniel J. Siegel M.D., Tina Payne Bryson

From the authors of The Whole-Brain Child and No-Drama Discipline, an indispensable guide to unlocking your child’s innate capacity for resilience, compassion, and creativity.

When facing contentious issues such as screen time, food choices, and bedtime, children often act out or shut down, responding with reactivity instead of receptivity. This is what New York Times best-selling authors Daniel J. Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson call a No Brain response. But our kids can be taught to approach life with openness and curiosity. When kids work from a Yes Brain, they’re more willing to take chances and explore. They’re more curious and imaginative. They’re better at relationships and handling adversity.

In The Yes Brain, the authors give parents skills, scripts, and activities to bring kids of all ages into the beneficial “yes” state. You’ll learn:

• The four fundamentals of the Yes Brain - balance, resilience, insight, and empathy - and how to strengthen them
• The key to knowing when kids need a gentle push out of a comfort zone vs. needing the “cushion” of safety and familiarity
• Strategies for navigating away from negative behavioral and emotional states (aggression and withdrawal) and expanding your child’s capacity for positivity

The Yes Brain is an essential tool for nurturing positive potential and keeping your child’s inner spark glowing and growing strong.

Includes a bonus PDF with fun graphics and tools to help you cultivate the Yes Brain in your child and you!

Praise for The Yes Brain:

“This unique and exciting book shows us how to help children embrace life with all of its challenges and thrive in the modern world. Integrating research from social development, clinical psychology, and neuroscience, it’s a veritable treasure chest of parenting insights and techniques.” (Carol S. Dweck, PhD, author of Mindset )

“I have never read a better, clearer explanation of the impact parenting can have on a child’s brain and personality.” (Michael Thompson, PhD)

“Easily assimilated and informative, the book will help adults enable children to lead physically and emotionally satisfying and well-rounded lives filled with purpose and meaningful relationships. Edifying, easy-to-understand scientific research that shows the benefits that accrue when a child is encouraged to be inquisitive, spirited, and intrepid.” (Kirkus Reviews)

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2018 Daniel J. Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson (P)2018 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"Easily assimilated and informative, the book will help adults enable children to lead physically and emotionally satisfying and well-rounded lives filled with purpose and meaningful relationships. Edifying, easy-to-understand scientific research that shows the benefits that accrue when a child is encouraged to be inquisitive, spirited, and intrepid." ( Kirkus Reviews)

"In today's busy, competitive culture, allowing our children the space to be themselves is more important than ever. This book provides an escape hatch from the high-stakes mindset." (Vicki Abeles, producer and co-director, The Race to Nowhere and Beyond Measure)

"Bottom line: Every parent wants to raise a strong-minded, resilient, caring child. We just don't know exactly how; we open our mouths and we sing our parents' tired refrain, 'No...no...no.' In The Yes Brain, Dan Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson teach us how to cultivate a receptive, curious brain in our children. I have never read a better, clearer explanation of the impact parenting can have on a child's brain and personality." ( Michael Thompson, PhD, co-author of Raising Cain)

Another brilliant/ insightful Siegle Book

Another brilliant/ insightful Siegle Book
Dan Siegle is an evolutionary genius...such wisdom and balance and practical heart centered

Where to find the pdf

If you open the book in audible, there is a drop down menu (3 verticsl dots)in the upper right hand corner of the app. You can access the pdf from that drop down menu.

How this helped me

I began listening because I needed help in helping my 13 yr.old son. I have found help for my whole family. And, hearing the science behind the emotions we all experience has been like looking under the hood of the car I drive everyday! This book allowed me to shed tears of relief, helps understand myself better so that I can be equipped to help my teenagers, and gives concrete, simple, ways to help my kids (and me) move from a “No Brain” to a “Yes Brain.” It explains the primacy of relationship and that behavior is communication.
Unexpectedly, but not surprisingly, I find connection between ideas presented here in a secular framework and the guidance I have found within my faith community(Rom. Catholic). Specifically, the “power in the pause” given here and guidance in discernment from St. Ignatius of Loyola (16thcent.) and most especially the concept of me+we = “mwe”presented here (however imperfectly we live this out!) I fully expect that this secular book will provide those of other faith communities with ideas and methods that dovetail with foundational understandings of who we are as human beings individually and in community.

What happen to us?

This is such an exquisite conversation between a doctor brilliant at transforming lives and beautiful conversation he has with Oprah. My prayer is it changes the way we incarcerate, teach and parent our children. This one is a gift. To yourself. And the world…

The best parenting book and authors

I learned so much! I will read again and again! Great examples and useful tools.

They just keep getting better!

I’m so grateful to have listened and learned, once again, to the logical wisdom of Dr Dan and Tina! Thank you

great resource for being human

I'm not a parent but I've applied to become a Big Sister with Big Brother Big Sister organization. This book was a good reference for me on where to begin with interacting with kids during challenging episodes and what to value.

Read them all!

Great look into various concepts on child raising and methods to engage them into the right state of mind.

excellent, but still opportunities for improvement

I feel like everything covered in this book is great, the topics and findings are evidence-based and in alignment with research across disciplines. I also see a lot of parallels in my own work both as an educator and apparent. I feel there's a lot of room for interpretation that could be challenging, areas where the reader is expected to draw conclusions that the book hasn't itself set them up for. for example, what happens when a child asks a close ended question? I had the person that recommend this book to me stipulate that we should avoid using the word no and ever possible, but that would mean that we are not addressing the question that they've asked and the manner with which they've asked it, which doesn't make sense to me. Even after reading this book. My apologies if there are any typos or homonyms, I'm writing this wall working in my garden and I'm using speech to text

Good info

Have also read The Whole Brain Child. The information taught by the authors is always good. They provide the information studied in a clear and relatable way. Worth a listen.