


I have been fascinated with child brain development since I became a mom. When I saw the book, Your Fantastic Elastic Brain, Stretch It, Shape It by JoAnn Deak, PhD, in my local library, I had to read it with my son.

This book uses a diverse group of young characters to educate its reader on the powerful brain. A few concepts addressed in this book are parts of the brain and their functions. We learned that the Amygdala controls your emotions and the Hippocampus helps you store and find memories.  It also teaches that the first 10 years of life is when you train your brain to grow faster.

I was thrilled when we read the fact, “Making mistakes is one of the best ways your brain learns and grows.” Many children get frustrated when they are learning something new because mistakes are made, which is a part of the process. This book has taught me one way to handle my son’s frustration as he experiences the trial and error process. I am able to remind my son that his brain is growing when there is a misstep. As a result, his frustration usually decreases and his focus on the task increases.

The author encourages the risk of being wrong in order to stretch the brain.

Give your kids a few examples of people who found success through failures…

  • Thomas Edison, a great inventor, failed 10,000 times before developing a commercially viable light bulb.
  • Michael Jordan, a great basketball player, was cut from his varsity basketball team.
  • JK Rowling, author of Harry Potter books, was rejected by 12 publishers.
  • Cathy Hughes, Founder of Radio One, Inc, was rejected by 31 banks before securing a bank loan to buy a radio station.

Read this book and encourage your kids to train the brain and make mistakes!

Happy Learning!



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