Introduction

This page provides resources on parenting and implementing the arts into a childs' life in order to raise a neurologically healthy child. More to come.

Kids and Tech: How Much Is Too Much?

By Jennifer LeClaire
TechNewsWorld

Incessant exposure to "all day TV," violent video games, instant messaging, and the always accessible cell phone interferes with the development of the psychological traits known to be essential to positive outcomes for children, according to Leah Klungness, Ph.D., psychologist in private practice and co-author of The Complete Single Mother Read more...

Links for parents

• Helping Your Child Read
• Pre-school Children
• Helping Your Child Succeed
• Helping Your Child With Early Adolescence
• Helping Your Child With Homework
• Helping Your Child Be Responsible
• Smart Parenting Techniques
• Music Education Facts and Figures

When Should Children Start Music Lessons?

An excellent source of information can be found at A Parents Guide to Music Lessons. The site is an excellent source for everyone who has an interest in music. Parents can learn how to get their child to practice productively, students at all levels can learn about the physics of sound, octaves, majors and minors, reading music, types of music, scales, circle of fifths, etc., etc. All information is presented in an excellent, easy to understand format, and is highlighted with great illustrations. This is a must visit site.

To learn about more advantages of exposing children to music then you can start by reading Music Education Facts and Figures, or go to the Music Theory Links "TrebucetMedium">page and learn not only techniques for the student musician, but also various classroom techniques. Finally, everyone should read some facts on The Gift of Music. Here you will find some links to some of the most advanced studies on neurology and music.

Message from a ten year old.

Diet for Children

As parents, guardians, and members of our society the greatest challenge before us is to raise physically and cognitively healthy children. Parenting is not easy. There is not a "Parenting 101" class that we can take to answer our questions and give us guidance, but there is help. This help is available, but not always easy to attain and so we are tying to help by putting things together for you.

A child's diet is important. When we decided to have children the first thing we did was address fluid and foods. Research will be made available as we build, but the rule of thumb is that our children must be provided with health diets. A healthy diet should consist of: good meals and snacks, foods free from pesticides, minimal sugar intake, and pure fluids. Provide your child with some healthy food and you may be surprised what he/she grows into.

• Food in the first year of life
• Healthy eating for kindergarten
• Healthy eating in pre-kindergarten years
• Healthy eating for young toddlers
• Healthy eating in the primary school years
• Healthy lunch boxes for children
• 'Try it - you'll like it!' Vegetables and fruit for children
• Why no sweet drinks for children
• Milk: Fact and Fallacies

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Meditation found to increase brain size

People who meditate grow bigger brains than those who don't. Researchers at Harvard, Yale, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have found the first evidence that meditation can alter the physical structure of our brains. Brain scans they conducted reveal that experienced meditators boasted increased thickness in parts of the brain that deal with attention and processing sensory input. Read more...

The Effects of Music Training on Children's Brain and Cognitive Development

There are quite striking structural differences in the brains of professional musicians compared to non-musicians. For example, we have found that musicians have a larger than average corpus callosum (a fiber bundle connecting the left and right hemisphere of the brain) which may result in enhanced communication between the two halves of the brain. Furthermore, brain regions responsible for movement planning and movement execution as well as brain regions responsible for hearing were found to be larger in musicians compared with matched non-musician controls. Read more...

The Triune Brain

The triune brain is a model proposed by Paul D. MacLean to explain the function of traces of evolution existing in the structure of the human brain. The triune brain consists of the R-complex, the Limbic system, and the neocortex.

The R-complex, comprised of the brain stem and cerebellum, is similar to the reptilian brain in that it controls basic, instinctive survival behavior and thinking. The Limbic system, which he first introduced in a paper in 1952, is similar to the brain of lower mammals and is the source of emotions, some aspects of personal identity, and some memory functions. The Limbic system is comprised of the amygdala, the hypothalamus, and the hippocampus. The neocortex, also known as the cerebral cortex, is similar to the brain of higher mammals and controls higher-order thinking skills, reason and speech.

MacLean's research argues that most human behavior is the result of cooperation between the three systems of the brain. However, as the hypothesis conceives the brain as a system consisting of three subsystems, all of which originated from separate points of evolutionary history, the systems are therefore not in a state of perfect equilibrium, since they actually are three relatively independent systems constituting a bigger one.

The Triune Brain will give you a solid understanding the the Triune Brain, and why the understanding of it is of such great importance. The Self uses the Triune Brain as a foundation to build a concept of the Self. Finally, the role of social responsiblity and the maturation of the Self are discussed in: Self-Realization and Social Responsibility

Useful Brain and Mental Health Links

• National Institutes of Health at http://www.nih.gov
• National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke at http://www.ninds.nih.gov
• National Institue of Child Health and Human Development at http://www.nichd.nih.gov
• National Institute of Mental Health at http://www.nimh.nih.gov
• United States Department of Health & Human Services at http://www.hhs.gov
• United States National Library of Medicine at http://www.nlm.nih.gov
• PBS Series: The Secret Life of the Brain at http://www.pbs.org/wnet/brain

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Message from a ten year old.

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Mental and Physical Well-being

Making for a Better Brain With Walking

Musicians Health and Exercises!

Brain Self-Control is a step-by-step introduction to your neurophysiological mechanism with which you can click into your dormant frontal lobes to cause the automatic "nirvana/born-again" transcendence phenomenon. A new order of intelligence, and creativity emerges spontaneously. Brain Self-Control was introduced to the public by University of Chicago graduate T. D. Lingo (PhD), in the 1950's.