Siegel and Bryson open the book by outlining some common parenting struggles, like sibling rivalry and tantrums. They introduce the primary goal of the book: To teach parents, caregivers, and teachers to work with a child’s brain development to help children thrive, especially in those intense and difficult moments. They argue that all interactions with children are opportunities to teach life skills in consideration of the whole brain.

They explain how the book works and how it’s organized, offering a one-sentence summary of each chapter and a description of potential uses for the back matter. Each chapter offers a breakdown of the neuroscience foundations of a set of techniques, then practical applications, then strategies for integrating the neuroscience into the adult’s experience. The authors focus on the value of explaining the brain science to children, as is developmentally appropriate, as the parents read through the book. 

Although brain science may seem overly academic and hard to understand, they argue that children and parents alike will be able to understand the core principles and apply them to everyday life. Further, they encourage the parent/caregiver to internalize the principles, partially to model the ideas to children, but also to enhance and improve daily life and emotional health.