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By Matt Bruenig, Cavan Images/Getty Images, The New York Times, April 9, 2022 In some European countries, parents can choose between sending their children to heavily subsidized day care or receiving a stipend from the government to take care of them at home. In most parts of America, parents of babies and toddlers have neither option. The United States is a global outlier among developed countries for its lack of government support for child care. That’s why it’s notable that New York State...

While fewer children and youth have been sick with COVID-19 compared to adults, the COVID-19 pandemic has still had a major impact on their lives. Though typically resilient to everyday stressors, children and youth are dealing with new challenges due to COVID-19 , like social distancing, changes to their routines, and a lost sense of security and safety, making them especially vulnerable to feeling stressed, anxious, or depressed. For some children, these challenges are exacerbated by the...

WEDNESDAY, MAY 11, 2022 THE PALACE AT SOMERSET PARK 333 DAVIDSON AVENUE FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP, NJ 08873 Click here to register Join us at the 2022 Early Relational Health (ERH) Summit to hear from national experts and learn how foundational relationships between young children and their caregivers impact physical health, child development, social well-being, and resilience. This summit is designed to bring together forward-thinking pediatric healthcare professionals, early childcare providers,...

Note: A CDC update provided a link to a new page on the CDC website on Creating Positive Childhood Experiences. It includes sections on "What are ACEs" and "Everyone has a role to play" (parents and caregivers, coworkers, and everyone) in creating safe and healthy conditions for all children, including community programs and policies. It includes a 3-minute video and Resources section. Healthy and happy childhoods start now. Learn how you can help! Children and families thrive when they have...

The 2021/2022 Prevention Resource Guide from the Children's Bureau recognizes that there are actions we can take as a society and within communities, organizations, and families to address the root causes of child abuse and neglect. The child abuse prevention guide seeks to highlight the innovative ways that communities around the country are doing purposeful prevention work to help children and families thrive. The protective factors have always been central to the Resource Guide. A...

By Hanna Ingber, Photo by Sean Rayford, The New York Times, April 1, 2022 When parents go their separate ways in a divorce, children are torn between two places — both should feel like home. The day my ex and I had to tell our children that we were getting divorced, we sat on the couch in the living room as they played on the rug below us. It was a pivotal moment, and our almost 5-year-old, Isaac, sensing that something big and disruptive was happening, had one very important question: What...

Activity: What's the Feeling From our partners at VROOM, here’s a fun activity to try in your next visit with a 3-year-old: Make a face and ask your patient to try and guess what you’re feeling—like sad, tired, excited, surprised or scared. Then take turns and ask your patient to make a face while you guess what they are feeling. Have fun going back and forth. Matching faces and feelings helps children to understand how they, and other people, think and feel. This builds social skills in the...

CDC’s milestones and parent tips have been updated and new checklist ages have been added (15 and 30 months). Due to COVID-19, updated photos and videos have been delayed but will be added in the future. For more information about the recent updates to CDC's developmental milestones, please view the Pediatrics journal article external icon describing the updates. Please click here to view CDC's Developmental Milestones. They are available in English and Spanish.

By K.C. Compton, Early Learning Nation, March 3, 2022 Babies and small children might not immediately come to mind when we think about people dealing with chronic stress. But they are—millions of them. Most recently, of course, COVID-19 has taken its toll, as families at all income levels have been hit with one stressor after another, from job loss to child care catastrophes to the loss of social time and even of loved ones and family members. It’s a lot for anyone to deal with. Equally...

By Amanda Ruggeri, Photo: Alamy, British Broadcasting Corporation, March 30, 2022 I n 2015, Wendy Hall, a paediatric sleep researcher based in Canada, studied 235 families of six- to eight-month-old babies. The purpose: to see if sleep training worked. By its broadest definition, sleep training can refer to any strategy used by parents to encourage their babies to sleep at night – which can be as simple as implementing a nighttime routine or knowing how to read an infant's tiredness cues.

Did you know that anxiety travels in families? As children become more anxious, so do their parents and the entire family. When this happens, parents will often use “overaccommodation” to insulate their child's stress and discomfort that can cause or maintain their child’s anxiety. Without family trauma treatment, the root causes of the child’s anxiety are not addressed, and relapse can take place again and again. DATE: Friday, April 15 TIME: 12 - 1 pm EST COST: Free with REGISTRATION HERE...

By Sara Rubin, Photo: Joel Angel Juárez, Monterey County Weekly, March 24, 2022 Sara Rubin here, thinking about a math problem: There are about 36,000 children under age 5 in Monterey County, but only about 10,000 daycare spots available. So something has to give. Every family situation is different, but a lot of what gives is parents or grandparents—most often women—pursuing a career. Instead of going to work, they stay home to care for young children because there is simply no other...