Ah, the "upstairs brain." Not to be confused with our "baby brain." In the awesome book, The Whole Brain Child, authors describe a way of thinking about our brain's frontal lobe, where our adulting skills lie.
This concept resonated well with my children, even at the tender ages of 4 and 6. I'd tell them, "it seems your baby brain is in charge right now... could you go upstairs and do some grown up thinking?" It was a start for us, but there's much more to it than that. A few years later, it became more and more clear that not everyone has exactly the same sort of capability in that upstairs brain. Some of us are more prone to flipping our lid or losing our cool. Some of us are chronically late. I have spent a good deal of my grown up life walking around looking for my phone only to realize it was in my hand... Executive functioning skills are all housed in that upstairs brain. They are what we need to execute tasks, and to function independently in life. An excellent read I've enjoyed as both a parent and educator is Smart But Scattered, The Revolutionary "Executive Skills" Approach to Helping Kids Reach Their Potential. In this book, geared toward parents, authors Peg Dawson and Richard Guare list eleven distinct executive skills:
Understanding our strengths and weaknesses through the lens of executive functioning can help us build on good habits to overcome bad ones, and to reevaluate our tasks and environment so we can design a better fit and better outcome. If you're interested in learning more about executive functioning and how it may be affecting you and your family, check out the resources page or contact me for a consultation. Leave a Reply. |
