A program in New York City’s high-poverty areas is training parents to be more sensitive to their children.
“When families are living in poverty, the infants need extra-sensitive parents and it’s harder for the parents to give that extra-sensitive parenting,” said Anne Heller, founder of Power of Two, which opened in Brownsville, Brooklyn, last fall and has worked to help nearly 100 families become more sensitive to their children’s needs.
The idea is that forming strong attachments in the first years of life can buffer children from stress over their lifetimes, and also lead to better academic achievement. Without these attachments, the theory goes, some of these children will already be at a disadvantage by preschool.
Indeed, research supports the idea that sensitive parenting is beneficial. A study published in the journal Child Development in 2014 found that those born in poverty who received sensitive parenting functioned better socially and academically into adulthood.
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