Parenting from the Inside Out: How a Deeper Self-Understanding Can Help You Raise Children Who Thrive

by Daniel J. Siegel

QUESTIONS FOR PARENTAL SELF-REFLECTION What was it like growing up? Who was in your family? How did you get along with your parents early in your childhood? How did the relationship evolve throughout your youth and up until the present time? How did your relationship with your mother and father differ and how were they similar? Are there ways in which you try to be like, or try not to be like, each of your parents? Did you ever feel rejected or threatened by your parents? Were there other experiences you had that felt overwhelming or traumatizing in your life, during childhood or beyond? Do any of these experiences still feel very much alive? Do they continue to influence your life? How did your parents discipline you as a child? What impact did that have on your childhood, and how do you feel it affects your role as a parent now? Do you recall your earliest separations from your parents? What was it like? Did you ever have prolonged separations from your parents? Did anyone significant in your life die during your childhood, or later in your life? What was that like for you at the time, and how does that loss affect you now? How did your parents communicate with you when you were happy and excited? Did they join with you in your enthusiasm? When you were distressed or unhappy as a child, what would happen? Did your father and mother respond differently to you during these emotional times? How? Was there anyone else besides your parents in your childhood who took care of y...