New neuroscience research prompting shift IN PARENTING STRATEGIES

As neuroscience becomes increasingly actionable, new evidence-based strategies are spilling into parenting and educational programs. Research offers some useful guideposts for parents and caregivers to change adult ways to foster healthy child development

- By NANCY L. WEAVER

A friend offhandedly told me recently, “It’s so easy to get my daughter to behave after her birthday — there are so many new toys to take away when she’s bad!”

While there is certainly an appeal to such a powerful parenting hack, the truth is that there's a pretty big downside to parenting with punishment.

For the past two decades, scientists have been discovering more and more about the growing brain. This exploration of neurobiology has led to new types of trauma treatments, deeper understanding of the nervous system and greater awareness of how environmental and genetic factors interact to shape children's behavior.

As the science has become increasingly actionable, more evidence-based strategies are spilling into parenting and educational programs. Research offers some useful guideposts for parents and caregivers to change adult ways to foster healthy child development.

It turns out that many old-school parenting and educational strategies based on outdated behavioral models are not effective. Nor are they best-practice, particularly for most vulnerable children.

Why old-school methods fall short

I don't come to this conclusion lightly. I'm a behavioral scientist and a professor of public health with degrees in mathematics and biostatistics. When my children were little, I read all the parenting books and applied a somewhat academic strategy to my job of parenting. I firmly endorsed conventional recommendations from authors and pediatricians: I dutifully sent my children to their rooms to think about their choices and dug in my heels to enforce consequences.

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It wasn't until my children reached middle school and high school ages that I began to see what my approach to discipline was costing us.