February 2022

Ryan Reynolds seems like one of the most confident people in Hollywood. He's constantly ribbing on famous friends like Hugh Jackman, playing brash characters like Deadpool and married to another A-lister, Blake Lively . But that public persona is very different from the anxious person he is on the inside , Reynolds says. The 45-year-old actor has dealt with intense anxiety since he was a child, Reynolds said on CBS Sunday Mornings . "I've had anxiety my whole life really. And you know, I...

New research helps explain how stressful events make teens vulnerable to anxiety and depression—and points to ways to help them cope better. Adolescence is a stressful time in life. Teens have to navigate increased independence from their parents, new and more complicated peer relationships, and more demanding academics, all while managing radical changes in their brains and bodies. Not only that, the current COVID-19 pandemic has created additional hardships for them. No wonder they may be...

Families that experience poverty-related stressors such as income insecurity or loss , material hardship , and housing hardship or instability —in other words, families with a financial inability to provide for their children—are also more likely to come into contact with the child welfare system. The intersection of poverty and economic insecurity with neglect poses a challenge to child welfare agencies when they respond to reports of maltreatment. Of all maltreatment types, neglect is...

Time-Outs Time-outs are an often misunderstood and misused technique for discipline. Here are a few quick ways to explain time-outs to caregivers: It’s a pause or body break, not a punishment. It’s meant to interrupt physically aggressive behavior only. It’s short: 30-60 seconds. Time-outs are not a replacement for caregiver soothing. Learning to pause and calm down takes practice and consistency. See this video for more information: Download printable flyer Click here for more tips like these

From Center on the Developing Child, Harvard University, February 2022 These days, resilience is needed more than ever, and one simple, underrecognized way of supporting healthy and resilient child development is as old as humanity itself: play. Far from frivolous, play contributes to sturdy brain architecture, the foundations of lifelong health, and the building blocks of resilience, yet its importance is often overlooked. In this podcast, Dr. Jack Shonkoff explains the role of play in...

By Claudia M. Gold, MD, February 22, 2022 For the past several weeks I’ve had the privilege of leading a course in Community-Based Early Relational Health. My students come from a broad variety of disciplines- physical therapists, occupational therapists, social workers, home visitors, program director, among others. They are at different stages of their professional lives. One home visitor works with young adults who have recently aged out of the foster care system and are now parents of...

By Jeff Stein, Photo: Brittany Greeson/The Washington Post, The Washington Post, February 17, 2022 The number of American children in poverty spiked dramatically in January after the expiration of President Biden’s expanded child benefit at the end of last year, according to new research released on Thursday. The Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University said that the child poverty rate rose from 12 percent in December 2021 to 17 percent last month, an approximately 41...

By David Marchese, Photo Illustration: Bráulio Amado/The New York Times, The New York Times, February 18, 2022 Since the Yale cognitive scientist Laurie Santos began teaching her class Psychology and the Good Life in 2018, it has become one of the school’s most popular courses. The first year the class was offered, nearly a quarter of the undergraduate student body enrolled. You could see that as a positive: all these young high-achievers looking to learn scientifically corroborated...

by Matt Shipman, Medical Xpress, Photo: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain, December 8, 2021 A recent study suggests that teaching children to understand other people’s perspectives could make it easier to learn how to forgive other people. The study also found that teaching children to make sincere apologies can help them receive forgiveness from others. Click here to access the article.

National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) announces the release of “Meet Little Monster,” a mental health coloring and activity book created for young children as a tool for them to express and explore their feelings in a fun, creative and empowering way, as well as to help foster dialogue between children and the safe adults in their lives. NAMI is proud to make “Meet Little Monster” available for download to families, organizations, teachers, and young people across the country at no cost...

Looking for opinions from former youth residents of residential treatment facilities and their parents. The study team at the University of South Florida Department of Child and Family Studies is conducting a national online survey of former youth residents of residential treatment facilities and their parents and caregivers to understand their experiences and perspective of the care received by the facilities. Download the flyer with information about how to participate here .

By Mavis Sanders, Chrishana M. Lloyd, and Sara Shaw, Photo: Unsplash, Child Trends, February 17, 2022 This brief is part of a larger effort by Child Trends researchers to expand knowledge about Black children and families. This effort includes continued work on Black family cultural assets and the development of a new multi-year applied research agenda on Black children and families. While sometimes prioritizing adults within Black families and sometimes prioritizing children, the goals of...