Hello, everyone and welcome. You are listening to SuperPower Mommas. I am your host, Laura Greco, and I am so excited about the show we have today. We’re going to linger in the words of Love, Care, Trust, Embracing Brain Health. And this is such an important topic that I have been friends with our guest today for a bit of time and we’ve done some work together, and I’m very excited to have her as a guest back to the show.
I wanted to remind you of something you likely already know, but our children, what do they want most from us as parents? We can think of all the things that we can give them and all the things we think are really great for their development and so forth, but what do they really, really need from us? It’s really quite basic. They need to be seen. They need to be heard, and I’m talking about really heard, actively heard, and loved and valued for who they are.
And isn’t it true that as parents, sometimes it can feel like a struggle with the busy lives that we lead? And yet, if we go back in time to our own childhood, we probably remember times where we felt that that wasn’t happening for us, or we have at least seen ways that we would like to improve on that for our children. And yet, how does that happen? Well, it happens by being able to do that for ourselves. Moms out there, are you really seeing, hearing, and valuing yourself and loving yourself for who you are. That is the first step because we can’t give from an empty bucket.
And I am so excited to have Deborah with us today. Deborah McNelis, she’s a wonderful person, as I already said. She was already a guest on the show, Embracing Human Brain Consciousness Through Neuro Nurturing. And I’m going to try to get that link into the show notes in case you would like to look that up. I’m overjoyed to have her because she is an advocate for creating more awareness and the arena of paying attention to being seen, heard, and valued. Deborah is overjoyed by her response to Brain Insights, which is her company name. She is also the developer of the term narrow nurturing, what a beautiful word to think about how we assist our children to grow up and also how we nurture ourselves as moms and dads, right?
Let’s see, and she’s very excited about the impact of reducing the effects of trauma and stress in young brains. Throughout her career as a kindergarten teacher, program coordinator, community leader, and project evaluator, and so on, she has so many things to say. She’s been involved in policy and so forth to really advocate for more awareness in this arena. And I’m going to let her speak into that some more as she tells her story of how she got here. But thank you so much, Deborah, for joining us again on Love, Care, Trust, Embracing Brain Health. Welcome.
I love that title that you created and I sure love your introduction. Yes, children love to be seen and heard and recognized for who they are, as we all do, as you made that point. Thank you so much for your invitation to be here and talk with you again.
Well, thank you for joining us. My goodness, I know I see you around on Twitter and Facebook and in various places, and I always get to hear the lovely things that you’re sharing now for parents and then very inspiring. Thank you for the work that you do in the world. And that’s why I wanted our guests actually to be reminded about you in case they didn’t catch you the first time you were here.
Yeah, so as we think about this, first of all, let’s just remind our guests, or maybe you can rethink this. Because you’re a mom of two and a grandma for yourself, right, what do you think your superpower is as far as being a mom and a nurturer yourself?
Well, now as a grandmother, I would say that I understand early brain development. I understand how children’s brains develop and just I’m so grateful for that knowledge that science has provided for us. As a mom, that brain science information wasn’t available, and so it was always just guesswork. And everything that was available was either based on behavioral studies or theories. And so, like I said, having the science so much advanced now that we actually know what is going on in those young. Well, we don’t know everything that’s going on in young brains, but we understand what’s positively impacting children’s brains. We also understand what’s negatively impacting children’s brains. It provides that superpower to have that knowledge and it gives that confidence of knowing that if I do this, it’s really going to help my child or my grandchildren. I’d say that feels like a superpower to me.
Yeah. Yes. And as you were talking, I was recalling a part of my introduction. But this work that we’re able to have access to now that you’re promoting and getting out into the world was probably only spurred on by the experiences of people who grew up in situations where they felt like things needed to be different, right, in some way.
That’s right. That’s right. Exactly. So many of us have had experiences that they’re not what we want for our children. And so again, having this knowledge to rely on and provide us that confidence and that assurance. Well, okay, maybe not assurance is the exact word, but more assurance that we’re doing what children need and what we are hoping we can provide for our own children.
It also helps us understand as adults, well, what experiences we had growing up, “Oh, that’s why it impacted me the way it impacts me or the way I see myself or the way I have a perception about myself or my behaviors.” It gives so many insights that I have through that understanding.
Absolutely. I find that for myself too, the experiences I had after becoming an adult. And doesn’t that lead to forgiveness and the ability to see beyond the immediate pain that we experienced, right?
Oh, totally. Yeah. It’s just eye-opening. Well, and that’s why I call my company Brain Insights, to get those insights is invaluable.
Yeah, yeah. Because it’s all a process. I don’t believe that parents necessarily wake up in the morning and say, “Oh, I’m going to make sure that I riddle my kids with bad thoughts,” or whatever, right? We wake up wanting to do the very best for our children. Right, but there are limitations. And as a society and the world changes and more knowledge come forward, it gives us an opportunity to have more choice in how we show up and how we show up for our children, but also how we reconcile our past too.
Totally. You are so right. And there are so many differing opinions on things and what parents should do or what parents should not do. And again, that’s why I feel the support of having that brain science alleviates that. We know that it’s going to make this difference, that it is our desire to provide for our children.
Absolutely. Absolutely. And I know you’ve got a lot of something really wonderful coming up, and we’re going to talk a little bit more about that. We have to take a break for a minute. I wanted to just be sure though that people know that they need to go to your site, and to hang on and hear what that is. Can you tell people where they can find you, please?
Sure. It’s braininsightsonline.com.
Right.
Very cool. We’ll stay with us, everyone. Because when we come back, we’re going to continue to go into Deborah’s story and how her story has led her to where she is today and the work that she is doing that is impacting so many people.
I’m Laura Greco and you’re listening to SuperPower Mommas on the topic of Love, Care, Trust, Embracing Brain Health Matters. We’ll be right back.
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