Parenting in tune with our ancestry Darcia Narvaez, PhD is a professor emerita at Notre Dame, author, and expert in morality, parenting, and neurobiology.

Darcia looks to our ancestral roots as Hunter-Gatherers to inform her worldview and her approach to parenting--incorporating essential human qualities like play, cooperation, and sharing.

Her work on the "Evolved Nest" can be found at Psychology Today and evolvednest.org

Find her academic work on her homepage.

Check out her books Neurobiology and the Development of Human Morality and Restoring the Kinship Worldview (with Wahinkpe Topa)

Watch the Breaking the Cycle Video (youtube)

kindredmedia.org

Complete topics include:

  • James shares how he encountered Darcia’s work when his firstborn son was 6 months old
  • Why Darcia hears from a lot of first-time Dads
  • The Evolved Nest--a set of human and animal practices with a 75 million years heritage
  • The 9 components of the Evolved Nest, all supported by neuroscience
  • The magic of soothing perinatal experiences
  • the adaptive power of breastmilk to feed a babies changing needs
  • Why we tend to ween our children too early
  • Darcia teases her new book “The Evolved Nest: Nature’s way of raising children”
  • how the nest “evolved” and why every species nest is a little different
  • how in the last 10 000 years (or in the 1%) of our existence our development course changed
  • The importance of a warm social climate in Small Band Hunter Gatherers (SBHG)
  • How Mayan’s get their teenagers to take out the trash: let them start helping at 1
  • 24/7 presence of caregivers in SBHG
  • why negative touch is avoided in SBHG
  • James Prescott study of carrying and breastfeed leading to peaceable societies
  • Why the nest is for everyone throughout life, not just for babies or children
  • a space of play, care, nurturing, and touch
  • importance of self-directed play and the fostering of cooperative social skills and executive skills
  • Why SBHG never let babies cry -The evolved nest is immersed in nature
  • The Sun Bushman and the regularity of healing practices
  • Healing practices are how we rebalance and remain connected to the natural world
  • Why grandparents can be more in tuned to young children then parents
  • What Rousseau got wrong: no one starts alone—it’s dyadic: mother and child
  • How parents’ and even grandparents’ stress can be passed on to a child
  • How can a emotionally disregulated populace raise emotionally regulated offspring?
  • Brain-Based Parenting (book) (link)
  • Playful parenting (book) (link)
  • When parents feel upset or stressed, try to switch into a playful mode as it shifts brain systems
  • Why parents should start pillow fights—play is the best thing for disregulation
  • James shares a story about how his son guided him through “big emotions”
  • Hawaiian idea of the spirit as a bowl of light, where unhealed wounds and trauma are like strips of velcro blocking the light
  • examples of indigenous healing practices
  • Richard Katz - Boiling Energy (book) (link)
  • healing practices as a release—getting back in tune with the greater powers
  • how to integrate healing practices into a modern family setting
  • importance of unstructured outdoor play and wrestling Roughhouse parenting (link book): importance of wrestling for brain development
  • how folk song games develop the right brain and vagus nerve
  • The challenges of creating an evolved nest in modern society, especially contemporary USA
  • Why parents might need to “want less” to establish an evolved nest
  • how to create a village feel when you don’t have extended family in town
  • why Darcia think the US is “the worst place to raise a child right now”
  • In our ancestral heritage, children were the centre of life—their needs are crucial to ancestral and primal societies, as well as other mammals like Bonobos
  • In traditional societies, a baby’s needs are anticipated, whereas in the west a baby is expected to cry out
  • How British imperialism spread a culture of competition and scarcity
  • Why abundance, not scarcity, is our ancestral heritage Why Darcia thinks we are on a “trauma inducing pathway”
  • watch Darcia’s 6 min video at Breakingthecycle.org
  • How Darcia stays grounded while facing these immense problems: return to nature
  • how are we are a intrinsically connected, cooperative organism at biological and microbial level
  • James shares a story about growing to enjoy co-sleeping with his children
  • What thriving looks like in a hunter-gatherer society: a list of traits
  • Ancestral thriving traits provide a guide for Maslow’s process of self-actualization
  • Ancient practices are about honouring our genetic heritage
  • Why greatness is about being fully human, recognizing our connection within the web of life with creativity, gratitude, and presence
  • How the critical, conscious left brain gets us off track
  • What is our niche as humans? Honouring and respecting the natural world
  • Braiding Sweetgrass (book) (link)
  • The “reverbatory” power of our thoughts, words, and actions
  • What to do if you weren’t properly nested - final chapter of Neurobiology of Morality
  • the moral importance of the environments you select

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