The coronavirus pandemic has affected the mental health of children and teens, and therapists are tapped out and booked up. But that doesn’t mean care is impossible. In fact, caregivers can learn therapeutic strategies to support, reinforce and teach our children healthy coping skills. Read more ›
Friendships aren’t always easy for kids. Almost every child struggles socially at some time, in some way—having an argument with a friend, getting teased, or even trying to find a buddy in a new classroom.
Although these are typical problems, they can be tough. Read more ›
Millions of children spent months, even more than a year, attending school virtually from kitchen tables, bedrooms and laptops during the pandemic.
And this shift to computer-based learning may have led to negative consequences for younger kids, suggests a new Michigan Medicine study of a sample of families in Michigan. Read more ›
Whenever a mass shooting takes place in schools, public discussion often focuses on laws or policies that might have prevented the tragedy. But averting school violence needs more than gun policy. It requires both prevention and crisis response that take students’ emotional well-being – not just their physical safety – into account. Read more ›
Bullying in the classroom can have grave consequences for students, especially as they build effective social and emotional skills amid the disruption caused by the pandemic. While administrators must take responsibility for creating a school environment that is safe and welcoming, educators can promote a strong classroom culture through responsive and warm interactions with students. Read more ›
Americans are emerging from the pandemic more stressed out and reactive than ever. For example, in a typical year, the United States sees about 100 to 150 cases of “air rage”—passengers becoming violent or unruly on airplanes. In 2021, there were more than 5,700 cases, of which more than 4,100 were mask-related.
You might not be disrupting a flight or assaulting a stranger in the street, but maybe you are more emotionally volatile than you would like. Read more ›
Some parents express worry that masks might interfere with children’s ability to learn or to socialize. Other parents fear that unmasking will lead to more COVID-19 cases.
Amid the debate, a small but growing body of research is offering hints that masks do not have a significant impact on speech or social skills. Read more ›
We tend to idealize childhood as a carefree time, but youth alone offers no shield against the emotional hurts, challenges, and traumas many children face. Children can be asked to deal with problems ranging from adapting to a new classroom or online schooling to bullying by peers or even struggles at home. Add to that the uncertainties that are part of growing up in a complex world, and childhood can be anything but carefree. The ability to thrive despite these challenges arises from the skills of resilience. Read more ›
Simple interactions between you and your children help build children’s brains foundation for all future learning. Vroom is a set of tools and resources designed to inspire families to turn everyday moments into “brain building moments” by layering activities that are essential to healthy brain development onto existing routines. Read more ›
