Mind Brain and Education: A new parenting tool?

Far from a fad, Mind Brain and Education has been around for over 30 years and could be a good parenting guide for us all.

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"Our greatest natural resource is the minds of our children." - Walter Elias Disney

When I was a new parent, I read books about pregnancy, monthly baby development milestones, sleep tactics, food recipes, baby equipment manuals, and so on. I read less when the child became older, and lesser when more little people arrived. Then primary school started, and I pretty much stopped reading. Except for the occasional parenting magazine or help book.

Fast forward, I now have kids ages between 7 to 14 years old. I realise that I am depleted of any ammunition that I need to fight the teenage years.

I am confounded by the issues most parents have about messiness, laziness, tardiness, rudeness etc. And who has time to read "how-to-stop-yelling-at-the-children" self-help books? Or the energy to execute well-intentioned tips? Not me.

Until I learned about Mind Brain and Education (MBE).

What exactly is Mind Brain and Education?

Sounds daunting. But the concept is quite simple - it is understanding how the brain works, how it learns and the conditions needed for it to thrive.

Because this research discipline has been around for over 30 years, there is a vast amount of empirical and experiential evidence-based strategies build for parents and teachers.

So, you do not need to be a rocket scientist to understand and apply these strategies. Yet you know that it has been widely researched and everything is based on science.

For those who need a little more explanation, MBE is:

• a research discipline that combines relevant knowledge from scientific disciplines to make that connection between brain function and educational practices.

• In other words, it is the application of neuroscience and cognitive/behaviour psychology to the teaching practice.

• a rapidly growing field that gives insight into how to support educator (and in our case, parents) for best student learning

As education systems work towards the future of learning, MBE is gaining traction as the new education frontier.

Recently, the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative funded one million dollars to advance MBE amongst teachers in the US. Leading research institutions like Harvard and Johns Hopkins have introduced MBE courses into their graduate programs. Reputable publishers like Blackwell Publishing and Sage Publications are publishing more mind-brain related journals.

So, this is serious stuff, folks.

What has it to do with us?

Quite a bit! First of all, our children have a head with a brain in it. Sometimes we wonder, but yes, they do. It processes learning, thinking and emotions. If we can try to decrypt it, we have some baseline to work with.

As parents, we are involved in our children's education pursuit and deeply intertwined with their learning. We administer their lives. We are their emotional support. We love them.

Any of these reasons make it important for us to understand what goes on in their heads and use proven ideas to mould them for success.

Knowing mind-brain knowledge makes you an informed person.

I like this one. What this means is that you are the best person to do your role. When you are informed by research as an educator, you take the research and put it into your classroom. If you are a parent, you take the research and implement it for your child.

It is a piece of knowledge. Use it as a tool. In your way. In your circumstance.

For example, research says unfocused downtime is needed for a healthy brain. One parent may set aside 30 minutes daily of doing nothing. Another may reduce tuition frequency to create that space. Yet another may ask the child to take constant breaks from homework. But if you do believe that piece of research, it will be on your mind sneak in the downtime. Because you want a healthy brain.

This brings the discussion to a whole different level. It is now about - OK I know this mind-brain stuff. How do I apply and use this for my child?

The more we know, the more we make sense of our children's behaviours. We are equipping ourselves to build our own strategies to get results.

“We are pragmatists. We don’t stick to any ideology. Does it work? Let’s try it and if it does work, fine, let’s continue it. If it doesn’t work, toss it out, try another one.”

Those were the words of the late Lee Kuan Yew. And it's great!

Everything about MBE is bite size and risk-free. If you hate it, you can drop it as quickly as you picked it up. Take what makes sense for you and throw away what doesn't. Chances are, some things will work. And this process will help you to connect the dots in your parenting journey.

Now, I have a new tool in my bag that I can use to combat against teenage hormones and mysterious behaviours. The same tool when dealing with the younger ones, but in a slightly different way.

Stay tuned as I blog about some of my MBE strategies next year. In the meantime, happy holidays and wishing you a wonderful 2019!