How can the simple questions, “Why?” and “Why now?”, be so absolutely crucial to self-regulation?
Dr. Stuart Shanker and Susan Hopkins discuss how simply asking these questions brings your thinking brain back online. Hear how asking these simple questions is the key to restoring compassion for yourself and others. Learn how adding this short pause to reflect can allow us to break the stress cycle and lead us to constructive outcomes as parents, teachers and caregivers.
Created as part of our Self-Reg Show podcast series. Subscribe & Download on your favourite platform and check out all our great podcasts here.
Episode Quotes
“By asking why and why now, what we’re doing is inserting a pause between stimulus and response, we are giving ourselves that breathing room.” – Stuart Shanker
“The thing about the interbrain is, like it or not, we are always hooked up with a kid. Whether it’s our own kid or whether It’s a student. And the messages that are getting sent back and forth along the interbrain are very, very fast. And they proceed and shape what we think, what we say, what we feel.” – Stuart Shanker
“Before I had the language of Self-Reg, I had the light-heartedness. And always really believed there was more to understand. In my heart, I didn’t think there was such a thing as a bad kid.” – Susan Hopkins
Continue the Self-Reg Learning
- Self-Reg Foundations Certificate Program (as mentioned by Stuart)
- Self-Reg in Early Childhood Development Program (as mentioned by Susan)
- Blog: Words Matter. But Sometimes the Interbrain Matters More. by John Hoffman
- Blog: Blue Brain, Red Brain Balance is the Key by Stuart Shanker
Catch our previous episode on There is No Such Thing as a Bad Kid here.
