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If your child is a perfectionist, or you're worried they might be, you might find these resources helpful: Is your child a perfectionist? Here’s how to help. By Jennifer Breheny Wallace, The Washington Post, March 8, 2022 Perfectionism in Children Can Be Moderated by Parents By Marilyn Price-Mitchell, Roots of Action, February 24, 2021 Letting Go of Perfect: Overcoming Perfectionism in Kids (book) by Jill L. Adelson and Hope E. Wilson 7 Great Children’s Books About Perfectionism From...

This resource from The National Child Traumatic Stress Network defines key terms, including consent and coercion, and offers guidance to parents related to dating violence and sexual assault. This fact sheet describes how common teen sexual assault is, how it relates to dating relationships, the roles drugs and the Internet can play in increasing risk, as well as provides tips for staying safe and what to do if your teen has experienced sexual assault. Please click here to access the resource.

This Mental Health Awareness Month, on May 5, ZERO TO THREE is launching a new podcast focused on mental health and well-being in the earliest years of life. Join to hear from early childhood experts on what’s working, what’s not, and where we go from here. We’ve all seen the news headlines, and many of us are experiencing the impact firsthand of the unprecedented mental health crisis among people of all ages and walks of life. During Mental Health Awareness Month, we invite you to a safe...

If you are a parent or caregiver, check out Caregiver Handouts: Games and Activities from the Harvard Center on the Developing Child Pediatrics . Here you’ll find handouts with suggestions for games and activities to do with children of different ages. These activities can promote child-caregiver bonding and build children’s brains through play! Another resource from the same source for caregivers is The Value of Routines , which provides some simple things you can do to make everyone's day...

Positive parenting leads to positive futures for generations to come. American Society for the Positive Care of Children (SPCC) provides parenting education and support as the most effective way to support families and nurture children. The following resources are made possible through contributions by child and family advocates like you. Visit the Parenting Resource Center from American SPCC to find more information on the following: Positive Parenting Adverse Childhood Experiences Brain...

by Jade McClain, New York University, April 18, 2022 Research by Steinhardt’s Natalie Brito suggests that infants whose mothers received paid family leave showed greater brain activity in their first three months In the fall of 2021, Democrats pushed to establish a national paid leave program under the Build Back Better Act, an initiative that would guarantee paid family and sick leave to US workers. The bill faltered in the Senate before eventually being shelved when it failed to garner...

Arthur Evans, CEO of the American Psychological Association (APA), says viewing the world as unsafe can be a symptom of trauma. "I think for a lot of people, the idea of having a mental health challenge is there's something inside of me that's wrong," he said. "And I think the idea of trauma helps people to understand that, no, this is something that is happening to me and how I'm responding is a natural response." Is it trauma? These feelings of anxiety and stress are becoming increasingly...

For children and families, last year’s expansion of the Child Tax Credit provided crucial support, helping them afford basic needs like food, clothing, and housing. Yet this historic policy achievement that almost immediately reduced child poverty was fleeting. Just six months after the first payment went out, the opportunity to help children thrive abruptly ended. The expanded policy was never extended, and these families are now right back where they started. Research shows that long term,...

It's hard to overstate the disruptive impact the pandemic has had on people. Its effect on mental health is a big one, and for teenagers, that hit particularly hard. Kathleen Ethier knows this well. She leads the Division of Adolescent and School Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which this month published a survey that points to some very grim findings. From January to June 2021, CDC researchers collected data on the behaviors and experiences of 7,705 public and...

By Elissa Strauss, Photo: Steve Pfost/ Newsday RM/Getty Images, CNN Health, April 22, 2022 It has become harder for children to experience childhood as a time of blissful ignorance about the state of our planet. Climate change, racism, discrimination, poverty and gun violence are affecting their daily lives, giving them plenty to be upset about it and often inspiring them to fight for change. Role models such as Greta Thunberg and Malala Yousafzai prove that sometimes when kids take action,...

Podcast with Shawn Welty on refelctive parenting: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/and-reflective-parenting/id1526716278?i=1000495527066

By Bill Weir, Photo: Bill Weir, CNN Travel, April 22, 2022 Dear River, It's just over two years since you joined our Little Blue Marble ride through the Milky Way and now that you can say things like "Bill Weir I want banana smoothie," it's time to learn the difference between "Happy Birthday" and "Happy Earth Day." Both are in April, but one of them has cake and Hopalong Andy and the other, frustration with humanity. Both involve balloons, only on Earth Day we get pick their deflated shards...