November 2021

By Meena Harris, Photo: iStock, November 15, 2021 Over the last year-and-a-half, as the coronavirus pandemic triggered school closures, haphazard virtual learning setups, and confusing safety guidelines, parents of school-age children have been driven to the brink — juggling their jobs with a full-time commitment to ensuring their kids are getting a safe, quality education. For parents of color, including myself, that health crisis has been compounded by a racial justice crisis. While we...

Whether you celebrate or not, the holiday season can be stressful for many reasons. From experiencing difficult emotions like grief, anger, or resentment that seem to resurface out of nowhere, to the pressures of making everything perfect for everyone, there’s a lot of opportunity for emotional burnout. I’m no stranger to painful emotions re-emerging around this time of the year. Christmas used to trigger in me the feelings of loneliness and guilt for years, following my move across the...

By Tyler Kingkade and Mike Hixenbaugh, Illustration: Eleni Kalorkoti/NBC News, NBC News, November 16, 2021 At a September school board meeting in Southlake, Texas, a parent named Tara Eddins strode to the lectern during the public comment period and demanded to know why the Carroll Independent School District was paying counselors “at $90K a pop” to give students lessons on suicide prevention. “At Carroll ISD, you are actually advertising suicide,” Eddins said , arguing that many parents in...

By Raymond Tran, Art by Angela Liang, November 14, 2021 Intergenerational trauma , which can also be referred to as trans- or multigenerational trauma, is defined as “trauma that gets passed down from those who directly experience an incident to subsequent generations.” Intergenerational trauma may begin with a traumatic event affecting an individual or traumatic events affecting larger groups of people, from families to racial groups. Left alone, this cycle of trauma continues. In order to...

Growing up, I was taught that traditional male attributes are things like toughness, emotional reserve, strength, power, and staunch individualism. This image of a “traditional man” feeds into once-clear-cut roles like winner and provider . Edward M. Adams and Ed Frauenheim suggest that this version of masculinity is confined : both limited and limiting. In their 2020 book, Reinventing Masculinity , Adams and Frauenheim write, “Confined masculinity focuses more on a man’s sense of...

By Wajahat Ali , The New York Times, November 13, 2021 My 5-year-old daughter, Nusayba, twirled around in her princess dress, fixing her silver tiara and checking out her newly applied eye shadow and red lipstick in the bathroom mirror. Then she examined her beautiful, brown skin. “I don’t like my skin color,” she declared. “I wish my skin was lighter. It’s prettier.” Her comment, several months ago, was a gut punch. Up to that point, my wife and I were confident that we had protected our...

Review of Rohan Bullkin and the Shadows by Jessica King Childhood can be brutal. Some of the authors I admire most have been able to reflect on difficult childhood trauma and create art, holding those experiences up to the light and processing them. In children’s literature, these personal, heartfelt #OwnVoices works tell a difficult story with truth and compassion. Books like this form a vital “mirror” for children in similar circumstances. I received an advance copy of Rohan Bullkin and...

By Alexandra Villarreal, The Guardian, November 13, 2021 Even after Malik Johnson turned four years old, he would scream, trying desperately to communicate despite his speech delay. His mother, Jennifer Emelogu, a former English teacher, knew he wouldn’t be ready for kindergarten. So Emelogu transferred Malik from his daycare to Pre-K 4 SA, San Antonio’s grassroots model for high-quality early childhood education. Funded through a ⅛-cent local sales tax , the program has become a point of...

By Jane E. Brody, The New York Times, November 8, 2021 In Social Justice Parenting , Traci Baxley emphasizes the rewards of teaching our children to empathize with and care for others. The holidays will soon be upon us. What is likely to make you feel better — receiving a gift, or giving one to someone in need? Research is clear that, as the proverb goes, it’s better to give than to receive. “Doing kind things makes you feel better,” said Andrew Miles, a sociologist at the University of...

By Claudia Gold, MD, November 9, 2021 I recently watched the excruciatingly real documentary Jacinta about three generations of women in Maine whose lives are torn apart by the relentless grip of opioid addiction. The film brilliantly takes the viewer inside the profound love of mothers and daughters that prevails over the ravages of abandonment and loss. Soon after, I began watching the docudrama Dopesick that graphically reveals corporate greed beside the rampant destructive force of...

By Katie Schoenhoff and David Jordan, Kansas Reflector, November 9, 2021 A child’s earliest years have a lifelong impact. Nearly 80% of brain development occurs by age 3. Having a healthy start affects health, educational attainment and earnings throughout a person’s life. Toxic stress and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) also have a major influence on a child’s overall development, affecting school readiness, student success, physical and mental health, and other factors, including the...

Please join us for a new series entitled: Trauma-Informed Criminal Justice. This monthly virtual Zoom series will feature conversations facilitated by Porter Jennings-McGarity, PACEs Connection’s criminal justice consultant, with special guests to discuss the need for trauma-informed criminal justice system reform. Using a PACEs-science lens, this series will examine the relationship between trauma and the criminal justice system, what needs changing, and strategies being used in this area...