Relationships, routine, and supportive teaching of social-emotional skills have always been important.  After any big change, these become even more essential!  Here’s a poster from the Nebraska Association for Infant Mental Health with a few reminders of those important steps you can take towards ensuring young children’s social-emotional needs are met and they are able to thrive!

In the fourth episode from a special COVID-19 series of The Brain Architects podcast, host Sally Pfitzer speaks with Dr. Tien Ung, Program Director for Impact and Learning at FUTURES without Violence, to discuss practical steps those at home can take to keep themselves and their children safe, as well as strategies others can use if they think someone they know may be experiencing domestic violence. Tien also highlights the importance of maintaining social connections during periods of physical distancing.

David J Schonfeld, MD, a developmental-behavioral pediatrician and Director of the National Center for School Crisis and Bereavement at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, provides resources for early childhood educators on how to talk with young children about the pandemic to promote their understanding and adjustment, as well as practical advice that can be shared with parents on how to support their children’s adjustment and how they can serve as effective models of coping techniques.

While the current coronavirus pandemic is affecting all of us, it isn’t affecting all of us equally. Some communities—especially communities of color—are feeling the brunt of the virus more than others, in terms of higher rates of infection as well as economic fallout, among many other ways.

In this third special COVID-19 episode of The Brain Architects podcast, host Sally Pfitzer is joined by Dr. David Williams, the Florence Sprague Norman and Laura Smart Norman Professor of Public Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and Professor of African and African American Studies, Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

Photo by Marcos Paulo Prado on Unsplash

During this time of COVID-19, home quarantine, and social distancing, young children and their grown-ups are feeling the strain but children ages 0-3 have a limited understanding of what is happening. Here’s an article from Psychology Today that shows what stress and anxiety might look like in your little one, and how you can help.

ACNJ hosted a ZOOM discussion on April 23 with NJ Department of Children and Families and Prevent Child Abuse NJ on child abuse and neglect in New Jersey, how COVID-19 has affected it, and how you can help prevent a tragedy by joining the #WeCan campaign.