Neuroscience that just makes sense
Neuroscience is all about understanding how our brains work.
Because kids’ brains are still developing, they often over-react to new or challenging situations - that’s what makes them kids!
Understanding how your child’s brain develops can help you understand their behaviour, and how you can support them to be their best self at home, at school and in later life. Sociemo makes it simple.
Your Child’s Growing Brain
During the early years, a child’s brain is easy to mould and shape. They learn new things and develop habits much more quickly than adults - scientists call this neuroplasticity.
Everything your child sees, hears and does has an impact on their growing brain. They learn best by repeating, so books that focus on calmness, kindness, empathy, self-esteem, good decision-making and other positive emotional habits can help your child develop these qualities themselves - and carry them into adult life.
Understanding Emotions
Naming and taming feelings
We all get overwhelmed by our emotions at times. But for children, these feelings can be especially intense because they don’t understand why they happen, and they struggle to express them in words.
When this happens, kids will often have a meltdown or tantrum. In fact, it’s thought that the rational, thinking part of our brains isn’t fully developed until we are 25, so teens can also be prone to meltdowns.
Sociemo teaches children of all ages about emotions - why they happen, what they feel like in the body, how to name and express them, and how to ‘tame’ them with calm, positive responses.
Human brains love routines and familiarity. When something new or unexpected happens, our brains scan our unconscious memories for similar experiences and in a split second, will prompt us to respond in the same way as we did before.
Kids experience new things all the time, but because their brains are still immature, they can easily get overwhelmed. It’s much easier to develop good emotional habits at a young age than it is to change them later. That’s where books come in!
Stories allow kids to experience new things through the eyes of fictional people. They can ask questions, reflect on how the character responded, and think about things they could have done differently. This ‘brain training’ can help your child to cope when they face similar situations in real life.
The Best books for bright minds
Reading together works wonders
There are so many benefits of reading with your child. It builds vocabulary, listening, memory and concentration skills - but the emotional benefits are just as important!
For small kids:
Cosy up for some bonding time with your baby or toddler
Establish good emotional habits early
Promote secure attachment
Use stories to prepare them for real life challenges
For older kids:
Use stories to explore complex topics like relationships, gender, diversity, peer pressure and loss
Encourage independent reading, bond over shared discussion
Identify with characters and challenges
Encourage them to express themselves through writing/journals
We’Re experts, so you don’t have to be
Just because you’re a grown up doesn’t mean you always know how to approach difficult subjects with your kids. And unless you’re a child psychologist, a lot of the advice out there can be hard to find and implement. Founded by experts in this field, Sociemo takes all the hard work out of understanding your child’s social and emotional development.
We find brilliant books that deal with whatever dilemma you and your child may be facing in an age-appropriate, sensitive and engaging way
We provide research-based insights into what may be happening physically and emotionally at that stage of your child’s development
We suggest questions you can ask to draw out how your child is feeling and what they may be worried about
We suggest strategies that will help your child build vital social and emotional skills that will carry them from childhood into adult life
Building blocks for success
Be Sociemo Smart
Get to know your brain
When confronted by big feelings, a child’s brain may respond as if they are in danger. Sociemo teaches children about how their brains react to threat, and how to manage their feelings and responses.
1. The Brain Stem (survival part of the brain)
• Its role is to keep us safe by sensing danger - real or imagined
• It tends towards automatic negative thoughts to keep us out of danger
• It primes the body to be ready to fight, flee or freeze
2. The Mid-Brain (emotion & memory part of the brain)
• It floods the body with stress hormones (adrenaline & cortisol)
• It searches the brain’s memory banks for previous, similar experiences
• It guesses how to respond based on existing knowledge or memories
3. The Pre-Frontal Cortex (thinking part of the brain)
• Becomes overwhelmed by stress hormones
• Rational thinking becomes difficult
• The child may ‘flip their lid’, freeze or run away
NAME feelings TO TAME them
Teaching children to name emotions helps to reduce the physical symptoms that they may be feeling in their body. If your child is really upset, it’s best to let them calm down for 10-20 minutes or longer before trying to talk about what has happened.
Using Sociemo to develop emotional intelligence gives kids the power to say how they feel instead of getting frustrated, sad or angry.
Don't bottle feelings up - name them to tame them!
THE SO-CI-E-MO PROCESS
Our simple SO-CI-E-MO process has four simple steps to
help kids sidestep a meltdown and react calmly instead:
1. STOP+OBSERVE
Breathe slowly for 10 seconds
What’s happening? Am I in danger?
2. CALM INSIDE
Keep breathing slowly
What am I feeling inside my body?
3. Express
Name emotions to tame them.
Try to identify what REALLY caused them
4. my options
What could I do next?
What can I learn from others?
BE SOCIEMO SMART!
