How Understanding Your Childs Genes Can Change the Way You Parent

On-Demand Class · Parenting

Learn about the piece that's missing from most parenting advice: the ways your child's genes shape their behavior, and how to use that information to make parenting easier - by tailoring your parenting to the way your child is wired.

Class Description

Is parenting feeling harder than you expected? Have you found that the strategies that worked for one of your children aren't working for the second? In this class, learn about the hidden factor shaping your child's behavior - your child's genes! Most parenting advice ignores the important role our kids' genes play in shaping their behavior. By ignoring the unique way each of our children is wired we make parenting harder on ourselves. In this class, learn from award-winning developmental psychologist Dr. Danielle Dick about the ways your children's genes shape their behavior, and how to use that information to make parenting easier - by tailoring your parenting to your unique child, and using the strategies that work best for different types of children.

Sessions Overview

  1. Understanding your child’s unique nature: Why is parenting so darn hard? In this session, you’ll learn about the piece of parenting that is so often ignored: the important role of your child’s genes on their behavior. Importantly, you’ll learn why understanding your child’s genes can make your parenting life easier.
  2. How genes influence your child’s behavior: In this session, you’ll learn about how your child gets their unique personality, and how by understanding your kiddo’s natural disposition you can know how best to nurture their strengths and avoid potential challenges.
  3. Tailoring your parenting to your unique child: In this session, you’ll learn about how your interactions with your kids are influenced by how each of us is wired. Learn about how personalizing your parenting can reduce stress and make your life easier.

Your Instructor

Danielle Dick

Danielle Dick, Ph.D. is the distinguished Commonwealth Professor of Psychology and Human and Molecular Genetics at Virginia Commonwealth University, where she directs a research institute on behavioral and emotional health. She is an internationally recognized and award-winning expert on genetic and environmental influences on human behavior. She has led and contributed to more than 20 grants from the National Institutes of Health, with grant funding totaling >30 million dollars. She has >350 peer-reviewed publications in the areas of child development, addiction, mental health, genetics, and human behavior, and won numerous national and international awards for her work. She has been named as one of the most highly cited researchers in the world across all fields of science. She is passionate about bringing research to parents in ways that are engaging and accessible. Her first book "The Child Code: Understanding your child's unique nature for happier, more effective parenting" was published in September 2021 by Penguin Random House. She is also a mom to a 14 year old son and 5 year old stepdaughter.

Degrees and Certifications

Ph.D. in Psychology, 2001 Postdoctoral Fellowship in Medical & Molecular Genetics, 2003 Director, Institute for Research on Behavioral and Emotional Health 20+ years as a leading researcher in child behavior, genetics, and neuroscience

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