• Parenting Styles

The differences among authoritative, authoritarian and permissive parenting are important. Authoritarian parenting is linked to difficulty with emotional regulation in children. Authoritative parenting, in contrast, is associated with children having a greater capacity for emotional regulation, flexible thinking, and social competence. 

 

• Teaching Kindness

There is a Quaker saying: “Attitudes are caught, not taught.” Children want to be like the important adults in their lives. They’re watching and listening. Make your vote a teaching moment.

Encourage Pretend Play

• Playful Learning
Fred Rogers said “Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children, play IS serious learning. At various times, play is a way to cope with life and to prepare for adulthood. Playing is a way to solve problems and to express feelings. In fact, play is the real work of childhood.”

DIY Classes for Kids

• Grandparents' Academy
Coronavirus doesn't make elders expendable or children less needy. Connect these two generations––conscript the grandparents as teachers. Pool children from the neighborhood and form an online school with their grandparents.

Coronavirus and Toddlers

• Talking to Toddlers About Corona
It's important to confine your answer to the toddler's questions––and not your fears. Preschoolers live in the here-and-now and coronavirus is a momentary inconvenience (to them). Don't share adult worries by over-answering.

How to Talk About the Coronavirus

• Virus Talk Tips Tailored for Age
It starts with being aware of developmental stages, anticipating how a child might be processing what s/he is hearing, and being ready with responses that are both honest and age-appropriate.

Keep Kids Busy (and Learning) in Quarantine

• Facilitate Active, Engaged Learning
It may be tempting to hand over an iPhone or iPad or but the younger the child, the worse this is for their language and cognitive development.

Location Trackers for Kids

• Digital Tethers Harm Children
Assuaging parental fears poses risk to a child's social and emotional development–– and it isn’t just about threats to autonomy; it’s also about the anxiety it can instill.

There's No Such Thing as a 'Sugar High'

• Sugar Doesn't Affect Children's Behavior
Investigations have thoroughly refuted this myth. But even though cutting down on sugar will not affect children’s behavior, it helps protect them against obesity, Type 2 diabetes, and heart disease.

Parenting Teens Through Their Problems

• Here's What They Want
When teenagers bring parents their problems, the response is to offer suggestions and solutions. Why do teenagers so often dismiss those ideas?

Making Mistakes

• Mistakes Are Opportunities
Just ask Fred Rogers, here with pianist Andre Watts. With children, comment on the process, not the product. Help children refuel so they can try again. Let children see that adults make mistakes, too. For more information, sign up for more information through the Fred Rogers Center. 

Early Intervention for Preschoolers

• Early Intervention Can Change a Life
Early Intervention is a free, national program to help children under age 3 who have developmental delays and disabilities.