tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/early-childhood-6809/articlesEarly childhood – The Conversation2024-01-02T20:16:02Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2135402024-01-02T20:16:02Z2024-01-02T20:16:02ZHow effective is fear as a teaching tool? How and what do we learn when we are scared?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556736/original/file-20231030-25-tocxly.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C2%2C998%2C652&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many of us remember vividly being yelled at or feeling threatened by a family member, a teacher, or a boss. </p>
<p>Terrifying experiences often get imprinted in our memory; remembering frightening events is essential to avoid them in future. It is a normal reaction that promotes our <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10832548/">survival</a>. </p>
<p>This strong connection between fear and memory may lead us to think fear can be an effective learning tool. Research shows, however, fear can have <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s44159-023-00156-1">long-term negative consequences</a> for children and adults alike – and can actually make it harder to learn in meaningful ways. </p>
<p>Here’s what the research says about how and what we learn when we are scared.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/stand-back-and-avoid-saying-be-careful-how-to-help-your-child-take-risks-at-the-park-212969">Stand back and avoid saying 'be careful!': how to help your child take risks at the park</a>
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<h2>How fear affects children’s learning</h2>
<p>Fear is designed to protect us from <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s44159-023-00156-1">current and future danger</a>.</p>
<p>If children are faced with experiences that trigger fear, they learn to avoid new experiences – as opposed to exploring, engaging, and approaching the unknown with curiosity. </p>
<p>Consistent exposure to fear changes how the brain reacts to the outside world. Fear triggers a <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/40971979">stress response in the brain</a> and puts it in a state of alert; we become hyper ready to react swiftly and decisively to incoming threats.</p>
<p>This may be appropriate if, for example, you are confronted by an aggressive stranger. But such high levels of reactivity are not productive in learning environments like school, where we are asked to be open to new experiences and create innovative solutions. </p>
<p>In fact, the areas of the brain activated when we’re scared are different to those we use when thinking carefully <a href="https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/full/10.1146/annurev-psych-010814-015221#_i3">how to address a tricky problem</a>. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4774859/#:%7E:text=the%20prefrontal%20cortex%20can%20shut,inducing%20mental%20paralysis%20and%20panic.&text=further%20the%20physiology%20of%20acute,when%20the%20going%20gets%20tough.">Research</a> has shown the more primitive parts of the brain take over the activity of the prefrontal cortex, the brain’s “control centre”, when we’re in a state of fear. </p>
<p>This means planning, making sound decisions and using our existing knowledge becomes very difficult if we feel threatened or afraid.</p>
<h2>Children learn fear from the adults in their lives</h2>
<p>Adults play a critical role in the healthy development of fear responses by modelling reactions to unknown situations. They also provide (or fail to provide) safe environments that promote children’s exploration.</p>
<p>Fear can be easily learned from significant adults. Studies have shown both <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0005796701000134">toddlers</a> and <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2008-01363-018?doi=1">school-aged children</a> learn to avoid new experiences if their parents communicate or show signs of fear in reference to them. </p>
<p>Think, for instance, about how a child can learn to fear animals by seeing how their parents react to them. Or, for example, the way constant warnings to “<a href="https://theconversation.com/stand-back-and-avoid-saying-be-careful-how-to-help-your-child-take-risks-at-the-park-212969">be careful!</a>” may end up making a child too anxious to climb trees or take risks as they use play equipment.</p>
<p>Adult behaviours also affect the degree to which children feel safe to be themselves and explore the world with confidence. </p>
<p>Studies investigating the behaviours of parents have consistently shown harsh parenting (involving physical and verbal aggression) is related to <a href="https://bmcpsychology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40359-023-01046-0">poorer outcomes in children</a> including academic underachievement, higher levels of aggression and anxiety and poor peer relationships.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://ejop.psychopen.eu/index.php/ejop/article/view/2013">opposite is the case</a> for parents who, while providing structure and reasons for boundaries, are warm and encourage autonomy.</p>
<p>Teachers also play a pivotal role in the development of fear responses. Students are more likely to be motivated and function well in classrooms if teachers are “<a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2018-44922-001">autonomy-supportive</a>”. </p>
<p>This means teachers:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>have a curious and open attitude towards students’ interests</p></li>
<li><p>seek their perspective and offer choices</p></li>
<li><p>invite their thoughts, and </p></li>
<li><p>accept a range of emotions (from frustration, anger and reticence to playfulness, joy and curiosity).</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>How fear affects learning in adult life</h2>
<p>Many people who experience anxiety in adulthood have been exposed in their childhood to environments where they have felt <a href="https://www.aztrauma.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Adverse-learning-experiences-in-childhood-may-affect-the-ability-to-learn-through-the-lifespan.pdf">consistently threatened</a>.</p>
<p>These adults may end up avoiding taking on new tasks, considering multiple viewpoints, and responding to questions. These are all skills employers usually value.</p>
<p>Work environments that induce fear can also be counterproductive and stressful.</p>
<p>Research suggests when employees perceive their work environments as unsafe, they are more likely to experience <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/5/2294">burnout, anxiety and stress</a>. Stressful situations can also interfere with our ability to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/npjscilearn201611">apply what we know flexibly to new situations</a>.</p>
<p>On the flip side, researchers argue that a trusting relationship between employees and their managers can affect workers’ willingness to show vulnerability and <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/smj.3051">take on tasks</a> that <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2005-15746-011">involve uncertainty</a>.</p>
<p>Researchers have also found positive relationships at work can encourage to <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.2189/asqu.2005.50.3.367">creativity in the workplace</a>, which makes work more interesting and enjoyable.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557631/original/file-20231106-21-9va95c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A scary boss looms over the staff at work." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557631/original/file-20231106-21-9va95c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557631/original/file-20231106-21-9va95c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557631/original/file-20231106-21-9va95c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557631/original/file-20231106-21-9va95c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557631/original/file-20231106-21-9va95c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557631/original/file-20231106-21-9va95c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557631/original/file-20231106-21-9va95c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Work environments that induce fear can also be counterproductive.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/cropped-shot-unhappy-senior-boss-standing-452661235">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<h2>So, what do we learn when we are scared?</h2>
<p>Yes, we learn from fear. The question is: what do we learn?</p>
<p>In response to threats and hostility, we learn to avoid challenge and comply with external rules (instead of wondering how systems can be improved). We protect our feelings and restrict our thoughts to what is safe.</p>
<p>Is this the kind of learning that allows us to grow and develop? </p>
<p>More than ever, children and adults are required to collaborate in creative ways to address difficult problems. </p>
<p>This means dealing with uncertainty and accepting that sometimes we make mistakes or fail.</p>
<p>That requires safe and nurturing environments – not home, school or work settings that are ruled by fear.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213540/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Deborah Pino Pasternak has previously received funding from The Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>In response to threats, we learn to avoid challenge and comply with external rules (instead of wondering how systems can be improved). We protect our feelings and restrict our thoughts to what’s safe.Deborah Pino Pasternak, Associate Professor in Early Childhood Education and Community, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2172472023-12-26T17:15:34Z2023-12-26T17:15:34ZHow counting by 10 helps children learn about the meaning of numbers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564574/original/file-20231208-15-3eojg4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C242%2C4383%2C3017&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Using concrete tools or objects matters for fostering mathematical development – but how can children best learn to count by 10?
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/how-counting-by-10-helps-children-learn-about-the-meaning-of-numbers" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>When children start school, they learn how to recite their numbers (“one, two, three…”) and how to write them (1, 2, 3…). Learning about what those numbers mean is even more challenging, and this becomes trickier yet when numbers have more than one digit — such as 42 and 608. </p>
<p>It turns out that the meaning of such “multidigit” numbers cannot be gleaned from simply looking at them or by performing calculations with them. Our number system has many hidden meanings that are not transparent, making it <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0001145">difficult for children</a> to comprehend it. </p>
<p>In collaboration with elementary teachers, the Mathematics Teaching and Learning Lab at <a href="https://www.concordia.ca/">Concordia University</a> explores tools that can support young children’s understanding of multidigit numbers.</p>
<p>We investigate the impact of using concrete objects (like bundling straws into groups of 10). We also investigate the use of visual tools, such as number lines and charts, or words to represent numbers (the word for 40 is “forty”) and written notation (for example, 42). </p>
<p>Our recent research examined whether the “hundreds chart” — 10 by 10 grids containing numbers from one to 100, with each row in the chart containing numbers in groups of 10 — could be useful for teaching children about counting by 10, something foundational for understanding how numbers work. </p>
<h2>What’s in a number?</h2>
<p>Most adults know that the placement of the “4” and “2” in 42 means four tens and two ones, respectively. </p>
<p>But when young children start learning about numbers, they do not naturally see 10s and ones in a number like 42. They think the number represents 42 things counted from one to 42 without distinguishing between the meaning of the digits “4” and “2.” Over time, through counting and other activities, children see the four as a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1053451221994827">collection of 40 ones</a>. </p>
<p>This realization is not sufficient, however, for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/ssm.12258">learning more advanced topics</a> in math. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/mathematical-thinking-begins-in-the-early-years-with-dialogue-and-real-world-exploration-128282">Mathematical thinking begins in the early years with dialogue and real-world exploration</a>
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<p>An important next step is to see that 42 is made up of four distinct groups of 10 and two ones, and that the four 10s can be counted as if they were ones (for example, 42 is one, two, three, four 10s and one, two, “ones”). </p>
<p>Ultimately, one of the most challenging aspects of understanding numbers is that groups of ten and ones are <a href="https://doi.org/10.17226/12519">different kinds of units</a>. </p>
<h2>Numbers can be arranged in different ways</h2>
<p>The numbers in hundreds charts can be arranged in different ways. A top-down hundreds chart has the digit “1” in the top-left corner and 100 in the bottom-right corner. </p>
<p>The numbers increase by 10 moving downward one row at a time, like going from 24 to 34 using one hop down, for instance. A second type of chart is the “bottom-up” chart, which has the numbers increasing in the opposite direction. </p>
<h2>Counting by 10s</h2>
<p>Children can move from one number to another in the chart to <a href="https://doi.org/10.5951/teacchilmath.24.3.00e1">solve problems</a>. Considering 24 + 20, for example, children could start on 24 and move 20 spaces to land on 44. </p>
<p>Another way would be to move up (or down, depending on the chart) two rows (for example, counting “one,” “two”) until they land on 44. This second method shows a developing understanding of multidigit numbers being composed of distinct groups of 10, which is critical for an advanced knowledge of the number system. </p>
<p>For her master’s research at Concordia University, Vera Wagner, one of the authors of this story, thought children might find it more intuitive to solve problems with the bottom-up chart, where the numbers get larger with upward movement. </p>
<p>After all, plants grow taller and liquid rises in a glass as it is filled. Because of such <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/tops.12278">familiar experiences</a>, she thought children would move by tens more frequently in the bottom-up chart than in the top-down chart. </p>
<h2>Study with kindergarteners, Grade 1 students</h2>
<p>To examine this hypothesis, we worked with 47 kindergarten and first grade students in Canada and the United States. All the children but one spoke English at home. In addition to English, 14 also spoke French, four spoke Spanish, one spoke Russian, one spoke Arabic, one spoke Mandarin and one communicated to some extent in ASL at home. </p>
<p>We assigned all child participants in the study an online version of <a href="http://mathchart.ca/chart.html#nt">either a top-down</a> or <a href="https://mathchart.ca/chart.html#reversednt">bottom-up</a> hundreds chart, programmed by research assistant André Loiselle, to solve arithmetic word problems. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/ssm.12593">What we found surprised us</a>: children counted by tens more often with the top-down chart than the bottom-up one. This was the exact opposite of what we thought they might do!</p>
<p>This finding suggests that the top-down chart fosters children’s counting by tens as if they were ones (that is, up or down one row at a time), an important step in their mathematical development. Children using the bottom-up chart were more likely to confuse the digits and move in the wrong direction. </p>
<h2>Tools can impact learning</h2>
<p>Our research suggests that the types of tools used in the math classroom can impact children’s learning in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2008.03.005">different ways</a>. </p>
<p>One advantage of the top-down chart could be the corresponding left-to-right and downward movement that matches the direction in which children learn to read in English and French, the official languages of instruction in the schools in our study. Children who learn to read in a different direction (for example, <a href="https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4tt0k00j">from right to left, as in Arabic</a>) may interact with some math tools differently from children whose first language is English or French. </p>
<p>The role of cultural experiences in math learning opens up questions about the design of teaching tools for the classroom, and the relevance <a href="https://theconversation.com/culturally-responsive-teaching-in-a-globalized-world-109881">of culturally responsive</a> mathematics teaching. Future research could seek to directly examine the relation between reading direction and the use of the hundreds chart.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217247/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Helena Osana received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for this research. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jairo A. Navarrete-Ulloa receives funding from the National Agency for Research and Development (ANID) in Chile. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vera Wagner does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Findings of a study suggest using a ‘hundreds chart’ showing numbers one through 100, beginning with one in the top-left corner, fosters children’s counting by 10s.Helena Osana, Professor, Principal Investigator of the Mathematics Teaching and Learning Lab, Concordia UniversityJairo A. Navarrete-Ulloa, Adjunct assistant professor, Institute of Education Sciences, Universidad de O’Higgins (Chile)Vera Wagner, Research Assistant, Mathematics Teaching and Learning Lab, Concordia UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2193902023-12-24T20:54:28Z2023-12-24T20:54:28ZRelax – having different sleeping arrangements over the holidays probably won’t wreck your child’s sleep routine<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564133/original/file-20231207-25-tzvzwq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C7%2C4743%2C3145&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/little-boy-jumping-on-bed-bedroom-1024614475">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Sleep, along with diet and physical activity, is one of the three pillars of good health. Good sleep makes it easier to grow, learn, perform, be happy, stay in our best weight range and generally be in the best mental and physical health. This is true for all humans but is particularly important with children.</p>
<p>Regular sleep patterns are important for good sleep. But children and their families often stay with relatives or in holiday accommodation around this time of year. Parents may anxiously wonder: will changing sleeping arrangements during school holidays sabotage good habits formed and maintained during the school term? </p>
<p>For over 20 years, I have researched and treated children sleep problems. The research suggests changing sleep patterns over the summer break does not have to be a problem. And there’s a lot you can do to manage sleep issues during and after the holidays.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564130/original/file-20231207-21-63vsqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5184%2C3453&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A dad kisses his daughter on the head at bedtime as she lies in the bottom bunk." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564130/original/file-20231207-21-63vsqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5184%2C3453&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564130/original/file-20231207-21-63vsqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564130/original/file-20231207-21-63vsqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564130/original/file-20231207-21-63vsqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564130/original/file-20231207-21-63vsqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564130/original/file-20231207-21-63vsqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564130/original/file-20231207-21-63vsqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Changing sleep patterns over the summer break does not have to be a problem.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/father-kissing-goodnight-daughter-bedtime-627688967">Shutterstock</a></span>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/should-i-loosen-up-on-the-kids-bedtime-these-holidays-or-stick-to-the-schedule-tips-from-a-child-sleep-expert-192727">Should I loosen up on the kids' bedtime these holidays – or stick to the schedule? Tips from a child sleep expert</a>
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<h2>Sleeping as a skill</h2>
<p>In Australia, as in many western industrialised countries, parents often (but not always) expect their children to <a href="https://jcsm.aasm.org/doi/full/10.5664/jcsm.6284">sleep alone</a> in their own room and in their own bed. </p>
<p>Up to <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20582760/">40% of families</a> use behavioural sleep strategies to teach their child sleep alone. While such strategies are generally successful in achieving this, it can be hard work for all the family.</p>
<p>Many parents worry that having children share a room or even a bed with their parents over the holidays will become the habit during term time, too.</p>
<p>However, the science says once children have learned a skill, such as sleeping alone, they have a “<a href="https://eclass.uowm.gr/modules/document/file.php/NURED263/Pound%20How%20Children%20Learn_%20Educational%20Theories%20and%20Approaches%202014%20book.pdf">neural understanding</a>” of that skill. That means their brain has registered, recorded and filed the “memory” of sleeping alone and this is stored for quite a long time.</p>
<p>Short relapses or interruptions to using that skill will not eradicate it in the brief time of a holiday. The child will still know how to sleep alone. </p>
<p>However, <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-there-such-a-thing-as-too-old-to-co-sleep-with-your-child-the-research-might-surprise-you-188145">they may not want to</a>.</p>
<p>Children may may realise sleeping with parents or siblings is actually pretty great (for them). It may be less fun, however, for the parents (who may not necessarily want to share a bed with a wriggly child, or feel frustrated by seeing siblings who don’t normally share a room, muck around when they should be asleep).</p>
<p>Like many aspects of parenting, it helps for parents to remind their children of the rules at home and guide them back to their regular sleep pattern.</p>
<p>Helping children to understand the co-sleeping or room sharing arrangement may be temporary is helpful. Children can and do learn sleeping arrangements can be different in different places, but the rules stay the same at home.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564137/original/file-20231207-23-tzvzwq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two children peek out from a bunk bed." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564137/original/file-20231207-23-tzvzwq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564137/original/file-20231207-23-tzvzwq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564137/original/file-20231207-23-tzvzwq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564137/original/file-20231207-23-tzvzwq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564137/original/file-20231207-23-tzvzwq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564137/original/file-20231207-23-tzvzwq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564137/original/file-20231207-23-tzvzwq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sometimes, being on holidays means sharing a room with your sibling or cousins for the first time.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/portrait-happy-young-boy-brother-lying-140064361">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What if my child won’t sleep at the holiday accommodation?</h2>
<p>This is a problem not just because it keeps parents and others from a good night’s sleep. It also deprives the child of sleep.</p>
<p>For some children, particularly sensitive or anxious children, changing sleep routines and particularly sleep environments can really throw them off. These children <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29302831/">may find any change very difficult</a>. </p>
<p>When these children are faced with an unknown sleeping environment, they may keenly feel the separation from their parents (who make them feel safe). It can be very difficult and sometimes impossible for them to adjust quickly. </p>
<p>The result may be a child taking a longer time to get to sleep, or long and unsettled overnight wakings. Parents may need to mentally prepare and adjust their expectations.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564136/original/file-20231207-31-8fzvvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A young girl touches the light switch of a lamp on her bedside table." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564136/original/file-20231207-31-8fzvvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564136/original/file-20231207-31-8fzvvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564136/original/file-20231207-31-8fzvvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564136/original/file-20231207-31-8fzvvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564136/original/file-20231207-31-8fzvvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564136/original/file-20231207-31-8fzvvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564136/original/file-20231207-31-8fzvvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Like many adults, some children struggle to sleep in an unfamiliar environment.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/asian-child-girl-resting-on-bedturning-1847058961">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It may help to prepare the child for the changes. Find out information about sleeping arrangements, <em>before</em> you go to your holiday accommodation. Talk to the child about the sleep set up, who will be there, look at pictures and share the excitement of a new place with the child. </p>
<p>Discuss being scared and anxious with the child and learn some strategies together to help them be brave and calm such as “You will have your favourite bunny with you. And we will just be in the next room”? Or, “We can take our night light from home?” Practise these before leaving on the holiday.</p>
<p>Encouraging and helping your child to be brave rather than expecting them to be brave alone is more likely to result in a <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2015-24314-010">smoother transition</a> from home to holiday and back again. Don’t shame them for feeling scared, but try to gently and empathetically help them learn some strategies to cope. Facing a difficult challenge such as changing sleep environments will also teach them resilience.</p>
<p>So parents don’t need to fear any negative repercussions from changing sleeping environments during the summer holidays. Bring on summer and enjoy.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/many-parents-use-melatonin-gummies-to-help-children-sleep-so-how-do-they-work-and-what-are-the-risks-190129">Many parents use melatonin gummies to help children sleep. So how do they work and what are the risks?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219390/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah Blunden does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>For over 20 years, I have researched and treated children sleep problems. The research suggests changing sleep patterns over the summer break does not have to be a problem.Sarah Blunden, Professor and Head of Paediatric Sleep Research, CQUniversity AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2134232023-10-19T13:28:16Z2023-10-19T13:28:16ZHow children’s secure attachment sets the stage for positive well-being<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554340/original/file-20231017-21-6kl3xo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C317%2C3772%2C2239&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A child's sense of attachment with parents or caregivers is formed from the consolidation of a series of interactions and responses during the child’s first year of life (and beyond). </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/how-childrens-secure-attachment-sets-the-stage-for-positive-well-being" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Attachment theory — is the idea that how a parent consistently responds to their child’s needs forms how a child “attaches” to a caregiver — has a long history, spanning a <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/cornerstones-of-attachment-research-9780198842064?cc=ca&lang=en&">half a century</a> of scientific research. </p>
<p>It also shows up in popular stories about both parenting <a href="https://psychcentral.com/health/attachment-vs-love#unhealthy-attachment">and romance</a> which may <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/finding-true-love/202007/overcoming-attachment-style-fears-create-lasting-love">overgeneralize the key concepts of attachment</a> as related to children’s development. </p>
<p>As developmental and clinical psychologists specializing in attachment theory, we would like to provide accurate information for parents and caregivers on what secure attachment is, and how parents can promote it.</p>
<h2>Babies and children express needs</h2>
<p>From the time a child is born, they will signal requests for support from their caregivers, whether it’s because they are hungry, need a diaper change — or just need to be held and know their caregiver is there. Older children might ask their caregiver to play or share their distress over a mild injury.</p>
<p>If a caregiver is consistent and effective in responding to these needs, a child is more likely to form a “secure” attachment. If a parent is inconsistent in caregiving or unresponsive, a child is more likely to form an “insecure” attachment.</p>
<p>Importantly, a child’s attachment expectations are not formed from a one-off experience. Rather, these expectations are formed from the consolidation of the series of interactions and responses across the child’s first year of life (and beyond). </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A father seen at eye level with his baby who is seated in a stroller reaching towards him." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554332/original/file-20231017-27-e7vpbx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554332/original/file-20231017-27-e7vpbx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=289&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554332/original/file-20231017-27-e7vpbx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=289&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554332/original/file-20231017-27-e7vpbx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=289&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554332/original/file-20231017-27-e7vpbx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=363&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554332/original/file-20231017-27-e7vpbx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=363&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554332/original/file-20231017-27-e7vpbx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=363&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">From the time a child is born, they seek support from their caregivers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Benefits of secure attachment</h2>
<p>When children do develop secure attachment, we know it can help set the stage for a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/jpepsy/jsv056">child’s physical growth</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2023.101093">learning</a>, <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2023-17994-001">social relations (such as empathy)</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/a0028793">well-being</a> and even their <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/1097-0355(200101/04)22:1%3C7::AID-IMHJ2%3E3.0.CO;2-N">brain’s responses to stress</a>. </p>
<p>If a child does not initially form a secure attachment it does not mean that they never will. </p>
<p>In fact, there are <a href="https://www.abcintervention.org/">countless interventions</a> that focus on improving attachment security throughout childhood and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/papt.12063">attachment-based therapies</a> that promote attachment in adulthood.</p>
<h2>What is a secure base?</h2>
<p>Parents or caregivers who a child can return to in times of distress to receive comfort or protection provide “a secure base” for the child. </p>
<p>Children feel safe to explore the world knowing that their secure base is there to dry their tears, cuddle them or catch them if they fall.</p>
<p>Importantly, children use their secure base in times of distress and enjoyment alike. At the playground, a child will look over their shoulder to make sure the parent or caregiver is still there. Or, when it seems a toddler is becoming engrossed in play, they may waddle over to show the parent a toy. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An adult seen holding a child's hand as they cross a thin beam in a playground." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554321/original/file-20231017-15-59d1xj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554321/original/file-20231017-15-59d1xj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554321/original/file-20231017-15-59d1xj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554321/original/file-20231017-15-59d1xj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554321/original/file-20231017-15-59d1xj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554321/original/file-20231017-15-59d1xj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554321/original/file-20231017-15-59d1xj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Children feel safe to explore the world knowing that their secure base is there.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Foundation for secure attachment</h2>
<p>Researchers in the United States conducted an <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14616734.2016.1170052">an experiment</a> to see what a secure base looks like in real life. Children ran around a baseball diamond, as fast as they could, while their parents were either paying attention cheering them on or distracted and looking at their phone. </p>
<p>Children ran three seconds faster and were 17 per cent less likely to trip or fall if parents were paying attention.</p>
<p>In times of distress, children seek to return to their secure base for comfort. A caregiver providing comfort offers not only physical nurturing and caregiving, <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-caregivers-can-help-build-childrens-emerging-language-skills-186456">but they also talk with children to help them</a> label their feelings and support the resolution of their distress. </p>
<h2>Providing children with an anchor</h2>
<p>When a secure base is solid, children most often develop a secure attachment to their caregiver.</p>
<p>Decades of research have shown that children who have a secure attachment are more likely to be better <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/23093775">problem solvers</a>, more <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/cad.20098">emotionally intelligent</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13160">more prepared for school</a> in terms of a child’s <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/executive-function">executive functioning</a> (<a href="https://preschoolmath.stanford.edu/toolkit/what-are-executive-function-skills-and-how-are-they-related-to-math/">cognitive skills used to evaluate and control thoughts and actions</a>) and <a href="https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-prosocial-behavior-2795479">their behaviours related to showing empathy and concern, helping, sharing and co-operating with others </a>. </p>
<p>They are also more likely to have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0001437">better-quality friendships</a>. </p>
<p>Being able to provide children with an anchor in a big, and often scary world, will help children to develop into happy and healthy individuals.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/Bwek0bhFNrX","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<h2>How can I be a secure base?</h2>
<p>An evidence-based program called The Circle of Security Parent Program <a href="https://www.circleofsecurityinternational.com/wp-content/uploads/toddler-diagram.png">provides many free resources</a> and videos to help parents understand how to be a responsive and nurturing caregiver, which in turn support the child’s development of secure attachment. The program offers helpful information in multiple languages. </p>
<figure>
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/122770192" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Animation from Circle of Security about learning to read children’s cues and meeting their needs.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The concept of a secure base may seem daunting, but it is really about being there for your child both physically and emotionally when they need you. </p>
<h2>Tending to a child’s cues and signals</h2>
<p>One metaphor for understanding what it means to be a secure base is the notion of <a href="https://developingchild.harvard.edu/science/key-concepts/serve-and-return">“serve and return” in tennis</a>: when the child serves up a cue, a parent or caregiver will ideally recognize the cue, and respond promptly and supportively. </p>
<p>When a parent or caregiver is engaged in attentive serve and return interactions, the child should feel that the parent or caregiver has the situation under control. </p>
<p>When a child gets injured, it can be upsetting for parents. However, children may feel more scared if their caregiver is also outwardly distressed.</p>
<h2>When parenting is overwhelming</h2>
<p>Parenting can be overwhelming sometimes. A child’s cues and signals can be confusing, or even triggering for parents. </p>
<p>Our own experiences of being parented influences how we parent — and not always in a positive way. At these times, parents face what has been called [“shark music]” — upsetting feelings that limit a parent’s ability to be fully available, either physically or emotionally, to their children.</p>
<figure>
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/145329119" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Animation from Circle of Security about the art of ‘being with’ and shark music.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Just being able to recognize feelings in themselves can help parents become more attuned with their child’s feelings. Research shows that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1049731514536620">parents who have learned to manage their own</a> “shark music” or provide better care for their children.</p>
<h2>Parenting: Challenging and important</h2>
<p>Parents with young children might reflect that they are already engaging in a lot of these positive behaviours. </p>
<p>They may also recognize challenges they face when life gets stressful or when they are navigating their own charged feelings <a href="https://www.nctsn.org/resources/turning-the-tide-parenting-in-the-wake-of-past-trauma">or trauma</a> — or how they are not always able to respond to a child’s needs in ways that will help the child flourish.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/parents-make-mistakes-so-what-does-good-enough-parenting-look-like-214146">Although no parent is perfect</a>, and it is normal to navigate challenges staying attuned to children’s shifting developmental needs as they grow, parents concerned about their own or their child’s well-being can always seek more professional help such as therapy or parenting interventions. </p>
<p>The next time you are playing with your child try to identify the signals your child is sending you and see how your child responds when you are sensitive, comforting and consistently available.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213423/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Audrey-Ann Deneault receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the Consortium national de formation en santé.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sheri Madigan receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Alberta Children's Hospital Foundation, an anonymous donor, and the Canada Research Chairs program.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marissa Nivison does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Parents or caregivers who a child can return to in times of distress to receive comfort or protection provide a secure base for the child from which they feel safe to explore the world.Marissa Nivison, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Psychology, University of CalgaryAudrey-Ann Deneault, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Psychology, University of CalgarySheri Madigan, Professor, Canada Research Chair in Determinants of Child Development, Owerko Centre at the Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute, University of CalgaryLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1980342023-02-09T20:47:25Z2023-02-09T20:47:25Z‘Child care’ or education? Words matter in how we envision living well with children<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508389/original/file-20230206-17-ehswee.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=29%2C14%2C4912%2C2504&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Investing in non-profit programs that provide culturally-relevant education is important to children and families.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As people across Canada begin to understand the implications of the <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/news/2021/12/a-canada-wide-early-learning-and-child-care-plan.html">Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care program</a>,
public conversations often centre on the economic benefits of getting children back into quality child care, and their parents or guardians back into a robust Canadian economy. </p>
<p>In this narrative, early childhood education matters <a href="https://www.saltwire.com/atlantic-canada/news/record-employment-rate-for-women-shows-trudeaus-subsidized-daycare-plan-is-working-100802678/#.Y4-hRR13O0U.twitter">primarily as a driver of economic growth</a>. </p>
<p>This nurtures a belief that children and their learning should be conceptualized as a primarily economic issue: We need child care, the logic goes, so that women can work or children can learn the skills they need to contribute to the future market economy.</p>
<p>We are part of a collective of educators and scholars, the <a href="https://www.earlychildhoodcollaboratory.net/">Early Childhood Pedagogies Collaboratory</a>, invested in thinking about early childhood education otherwise. We ask: What narratives or stories are going unnoticed in the face of the universal child care plan in Canada?</p>
<p>Our proposal: Canada creates an education system that focuses on the work of living well with children. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A hand is seen holding a child's drawing in front of woods." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508386/original/file-20230206-21-lkl63x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508386/original/file-20230206-21-lkl63x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508386/original/file-20230206-21-lkl63x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508386/original/file-20230206-21-lkl63x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508386/original/file-20230206-21-lkl63x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508386/original/file-20230206-21-lkl63x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508386/original/file-20230206-21-lkl63x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Our society urgently needs us to pay more attention to the education of young children.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Sherri-Lynn Yazbeck)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Operating like a business?</h2>
<p>We are concerned with the current marketization of the early childhood education profession — how childhood education is increasingly forced to adapt itself to the needs of the market economy, where what becomes important is how well the field operates like a business. </p>
<p>For us, education is not about market-based economics. The buying and selling of children’s education and the labour of educators concerns us. What is urgently needed is to pay more attention to the education of young children — their relations to learning, which we call “pedagogy.” We define this pedagogy as the work of living well with children.</p>
<p>By focusing on living well with children, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14733285.2022.2042197">we are able to ask different questions that relate to early childhood education</a>. This means asking how we can foster ethical spaces with children and families.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-early-childhood-education-is-responding-to-climate-change-175107">How early childhood education is responding to climate change</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Education as an event, experience</h2>
<p>Pedagogy takes <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1350293X.2020.1817235">education as an event and an experience</a>. It is more than simply caring for children’s basic needs. Instead, it’s about collaborating with children and families to craft curriculum that truly matters to the messy worlds that children inhabit and inherit.</p>
<p>Amid the new federal funding, there is the creation of a market economy around childhood. </p>
<p>For example, as Ontario grapples with a shortage of early childhood educators, some advocates are concerned the province <a href="https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/ontario-could-be-short-8-500-early-childhood-educators-government-officials-estimate-1.6230879#">will focus mostly or exclusively on recruiting more early childhood educators, increasing admissions to programs or offering low-cost tuition</a>.</p>
<p>Such initiatives would see early childhood education as a numbers game, easily and inexpensively creating educators who can quickly fill positions. This would be at the detriment of longer, slower education required to think carefully about how to live well with children. </p>
<p>The risks to children, families and educators of rapidly expanding “spaces” under corporate business models are also apparent: The <em>Globe and Mail</em> reports that <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-ontario-daycare-childcare-lullaboo/">after the North Toronto Early Years Centre was acquired by a “rapidly expanding daycare chain,”</a> existing staff were presented with new contracts that paid less and said they could be moved to another location at any time.</p>
<h2>Turn the narrative around</h2>
<p>Our society needs to turn the narrative around: children are not in early childhood education to provide employment opportunities for educators and guardians.</p>
<p>Instead, educators are involved in co-creating locally meaningful and responsive educational and social spaces. This means being co-investigators with children into the inquiries that arise out of their complex and diverse lives.</p>
<p>Together as a society, educators, community members, parents and caregivers need to ask what roles we all need to take on in order to build a truly universal system that can meet the unknowns of children’s lives now and into the future.</p>
<p>We want to share two actions the community and early childhood education field can act upon. </p>
<p>These follow the <a href="https://theconversation.com/federal-budget-2021-7-actions-to-ensure-canadas-child-care-plan-is-about-education-159191">seven actions our collaboratory recommended in an earlier article</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Children's and an educator's hands seen working with paper at a table." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508391/original/file-20230206-25-y8wva7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508391/original/file-20230206-25-y8wva7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508391/original/file-20230206-25-y8wva7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508391/original/file-20230206-25-y8wva7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508391/original/file-20230206-25-y8wva7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508391/original/file-20230206-25-y8wva7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508391/original/file-20230206-25-y8wva7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Early childhood education involves more than merely meeting children’s basic needs.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Pexels/Yan Krukov)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong>1. Understand ethical responsibility and shift our language.</strong></p>
<p>We, as a Canadian society, need to recognize the complexity of early childhood educators creating spaces for young children instead of simply warehousing children to advance the economy. </p>
<p>Shifting our language means educational and training institutions, policymakers and society must change our expectations of early childhood education, as we ask it to become an educational undertaking, not just about “supervision.” </p>
<p>We have an ethical obligation to our youngest citizens to re-frame the educator and the early childhood education system as ethically responsible for meeting children and families in all the richness of their diverse life stories. </p>
<p>We invite everyone to intervene when hearing early childhood education <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2043610617747978">referred to as only supervisory care</a>. </p>
<p>We instead raise the possibility that early childhood education involves more than merely meeting children’s basic needs.</p>
<p>Changing the expectations, stories and knowledge our society brings to concepts about educators, children and families is a good first step to changing the narrative around early childhood education.</p>
<p><strong>2. Invest in non-profit programs which provide education that centres living well with children.</strong></p>
<p>We need opportunities to understand education as a learning space, not strictly one for supervision, so guardians can join the workforce. </p>
<p>This requires that we, as government, advocates, families and communities, understand educators as capable and competent professionals, and education as a vibrant space full of life. </p>
<p>Public investment needs to be tied to non-profit programs where the primary concern is the meaningful and <a href="https://theconversation.com/weaving-is-helping-strengthen-ancestral-knowledge-among-women-and-children-in-ingapirca-ecuador-177137">culturally relevant</a> education of young children. </p>
<h2>Thinking beyond economics</h2>
<p>The two actions we propose are not a recipe but an invitation to disrupt problematic narratives that position educators and children as resources toward a market economy. </p>
<p>We are not proposing a “solution”; we propose we need an ongoing discussion about the purposes of early childhood education. </p>
<p>Shifting the narratives our society brings to understanding early childhood education in Canada matters to children’s and families’ lives. We can think beyond economics with children and families and educators. </p>
<p><em>Authored in conversation with Early Childhood Collaboratory members: Alexandra Berry (Capilano University); Alicja Frankowski, Courtney Amber, Cristina Delgado Vintimilla (York University); B. Denise Hodgins (British Columbia Early Childhood Pedagogy Network); Cory Jobb (Thompson Rivers University); Iris Berger (University of British Columbia); Kelly-Ann MacAlpine, Narda Nelson, Randa Khattar, Tatiana Zakharova-Goodman and Veronica Pacini-Ketchabaw (Western University); Sylvia Kind (Capilano University).</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198034/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicole Land receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kathleen Kummen receives funding from the Ministry of Education and Child Care, British Columbia.</span></em></p>Early childhood education isn’t about warehousing children so adults can go to work. There is an ethical imperative to support a paradigm shift in how our society values educating young children.Nicole Land, Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Studies, Toronto Metropolitan UniversityKathleen Kummen, Chair, Education and Childhood Studies, Capilano UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1939542022-11-24T19:05:36Z2022-11-24T19:05:36ZHow a Canadian program that helps educators ‘thrive’ not just ‘survive’ could help address Australia’s childcare staff shortage<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496652/original/file-20221122-18-hbzhmj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C29%2C3982%2C2299&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Makus Spiske/Unsplash</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>On Wednesday, federal parliament <a href="https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7990519/cheaper-child-care-one-step-closer/?cs=14264">passed</a> Labor’s bill to reduce childcare fees for many Australian families. </p>
<p>More affordable childcare for families is great, but it will not solve all the issues in the sector. Schools are not the only ones with a teacher crisis. Early childhood services are also hit with <a href="https://www.aare.edu.au/blog/?p=11840">chronic staff shortages</a>.</p>
<p>As of October, there were about <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-17/breaking-point:-the-real-cost-of-australias-worker/14087284">6,800 advertised positions</a> for early childhood educators in Australia. The pandemic has not helped. There was a <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/babysitters-make-45-an-hour-nanny-rates-soar-as-childcare-centres-in-staffing-crisis-20220524-p5ao1f.html">40% increase</a> in job ads between April 2021 and April 2022. </p>
<p>Before COVID-19, there was about <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0022185618800351">30% annual turnover</a> in the sector, and up to 45% in rural and remote areas. A 2021 <a href="https://bigsteps.org.au/crisis-report/">union study</a> of more than 3,800 educators revealed 74% said they wanted to leave the sector in the next three years. The top reasons for wanting to leave were excessive workload, low pay and feeling undervalued.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/covid-chaos-has-shed-light-on-many-issues-in-the-australian-childcare-sector-here-are-4-of-them-174404">COVID chaos has shed light on many issues in the Australian childcare sector. Here are 4 of them</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>This turnover can <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK189908/">impact upon</a> children’s wellbeing, development and learning.</p>
<p>To find out more about the challenges educators face, how it impacts upon their wellbeing and learn from other countries, our <a href="https://thesector.com.au/2021/09/14/accreditation-effects-on-early-childhood-educator-morale/">international study</a> explored the experiences of early childhood educators around the world.</p>
<p>This article looks at the Australian and Canadian components of the study. </p>
<h2>Australian educators’ experiences</h2>
<p>As part of our research, we surveyed 51 early childhood educators in Australia in 2021, which found parts of their job threatened their wellbeing. They painted a picture of an important job that is not valued <a href="https://womensagenda.com.au/latest/why-cant-we-value-and-pay-for-the-emotional-cost-of-caring/">financially</a> and not <a href="https://womensagenda.com.au/latest/smile-and-wave-ladies-the-attempts-to-silence-grace-tame-mirrors-the-plight-of-early-childhood-educators/">respected</a> by the broader community. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Childcare workers on strike." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496656/original/file-20221122-17-lo7xs3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496656/original/file-20221122-17-lo7xs3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496656/original/file-20221122-17-lo7xs3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496656/original/file-20221122-17-lo7xs3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496656/original/file-20221122-17-lo7xs3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496656/original/file-20221122-17-lo7xs3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496656/original/file-20221122-17-lo7xs3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Australian early childhood educators went on strike in September over pay and conditions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Joel Carrett/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>They talked about work being done “from the love of your heart”, rather than being rewarded with adequate <a href="https://au.indeed.com/career-advice/finding-a-job/lowest-paid-jobs-in-australia">pay</a>. They also spoke about early childhood services exploiting the goodwill of educators. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>All those extra toys you see in rooms, fancy art shows, are all topped up and financed by [staff].</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Educators talked about the <a href="https://educationhq.com/news/managerialism-is-driving-the-crisis-in-early-childhood-education-117618/">pressure</a> to meet the needs of parents and children and government regulations.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>All of us have stressful days […] managing behavioural issues, parents’ demands and a lot of routine tasks.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Meanwhile, there was an “obscene” amount of <a href="https://theconversation.com/early-childhood-educators-are-slaves-to-the-demands-of-box-ticking-regulations-167283">administrative</a> work and repeated stories of staff fatigue and <a href="https://thesector.com.au/2021/10/25/bound-for-burnout-early-childhood-educators-are-swimming-against-a-gendered-micromanaged-tide/">burnout</a>.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We are burnt out and leaving the industry in droves because rather than having quality educators we are getting pushed for quantity. Children are being seen as a commodity and it needs to stop.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>What could we learn from Canada?</h2>
<p>Our study also surveyed educators involved in a <a href="https://ecepeermentoring.trubox.ca/research/">program</a> in Canada, where peer support has been used to boost the wellbeing of early childhood educators. </p>
<p>Up to <a href="https://ecepeermentoring.trubox.ca/wp-content/uploads/sites/700/2021/08/Mentorship-as-a-Strategy-to-Address-Recruitment-Doan-Gray-2021-2.pdf">50% of early childhood educators</a> in British Columbia had been leaving the sector in their first five years. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://journals.uvic.ca/index.php/jcs/article/view/18778">Peer Mentoring Program</a> began as a pilot project in 2016 and expanded across the province of British Columbia to 17 sites in 2019. Currently, the program is used in 25 locations across British Columbia. </p>
<p>In the <a href="https://ecepeermentoring.trubox.ca/wp-content/uploads/sites/700/2021/02/Reflections-on-the-Peer-Mentoring-Project-for-Early-Childhood-Educators-in-British-Columbia-1.pdf">program</a>, educators were organised into groups of 12 (six more junior, six more experienced) and one or two facilitators. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Small children playing in the sand." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496658/original/file-20221122-16-b8skj8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496658/original/file-20221122-16-b8skj8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496658/original/file-20221122-16-b8skj8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496658/original/file-20221122-16-b8skj8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496658/original/file-20221122-16-b8skj8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496658/original/file-20221122-16-b8skj8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496658/original/file-20221122-16-b8skj8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">As of October, there were nearly 7,000 ads for early childhood educators in Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mick Tsikas/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The groups meet in person once a month to talk and share experiences. They may invite a guest speaker, depending on the group’s interest, and each group receives funds for this purpose. They can also organise professional development as part of their meetings as opposed to a one-off workshop.</p>
<p>In addition to the monthly face-to-face group gatherings, junior and mentor educators are paired up and meet weekly, either face-to-face, online, or by telephone to support each other.</p>
<h2>Why is it effective?</h2>
<p>In 2020, we conducted 17 focus groups with approximately 200 early childhood educators who were part of the peer mentoring program.</p>
<p>Participants in the program said it gave them a space to talk without judgement or recrimination. Participants said they felt safe, and mentally refreshed. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I would describe the […] program as going home, being with a group of people who […] allow you to be the best version of yourself.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>One educator <a href="https://ecepeermentoring.trubox.ca/wp-content/uploads/sites/700/2021/08/Mentorship-as-a-Strategy-to-Address-Recruitment-Doan-Gray-2021-2.pdf">said</a> the program allowed her to “thrive” instead of just “survive”: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>you’re actually thriving and you have the enriching connections and conversations […] if we want to honour children’s time with their [play and educational] materials and with one another, we also need to honour our time with one another as well, to have that rich conversation.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Another mentor said it was empowering to be among other women. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I was like ‘do I get on the board?’, like I needed to be immersed in strong women, strong leadership […] just empowered people that are passionate about the same things that I’m passionate about.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Is it retaining staff?</h2>
<p>Overall, educators say they have increased their connections to other educators, all of which has helped to sustain them in the field, avoiding burnout. </p>
<p>While retention of educators continues to be an issue in British Columbia, educators reported greater levels of confidence in their own abilities.</p>
<p>Anecdotally, educators and services have reported greater retention and a formal survey has been created to capture the data in 2023.</p>
<h2>What now?</h2>
<p>Australian governments and early childhood services are spending a lot to <a href="https://www.vic.gov.au/training-and-support-early-childhood-professionals">attract</a> and <a href="https://thesector.com.au/2022/09/08/inclusive-education-scholarships-now-available-in-nsw-up-to-20000-on-offer/">train</a> educators. </p>
<p>As part of this, some of the money would be well spent supporting the ongoing <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35317528/">wellbeing</a> of educators to keep them in this vital workforce.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/193954/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marg Rogers is a Research Fellow with the Commonwealth-funded Manna Institute that builds place-based research capacity to improve mental health in regional, rural, and remote Australia through the Regional Universities Network (RUN).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laura K. Doan receives funding from the Government of Canada through the Canada - British Columbia Early Learning and Child Care Agreement. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Navjot Bhullar currently receives funding from the Australian Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF), Forrest Hill Grant via the Foundation of Graduates in Early Childhood Studies, and The British Academy.</span></em></p>A Canadian peer support program for early childhood educators is helping staff feel valued and avoid burnout.Marg Rogers, Senior Lecturer, Early Childhood Education, University of New EnglandLaura K. Doan, Associate professor, Thompson Rivers UniversityNavjot Bhullar, Professor of Psychology (Research-focussed), Edith Cowan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1941682022-11-23T02:06:04Z2022-11-23T02:06:04ZMisleading food labels contribute to babies and toddlers eating too much sugar. 3 things parents can do<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495237/original/file-20221115-11-u9ap2g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=34%2C86%2C5716%2C3733&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/irvine-california-united-states-01042020-600w-1613416633.jpg">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australian infants and toddlers are eating unhealthy amounts of sugar. This is mostly because the products marketed and sold by the processed food industry are high in sugar. </p>
<p>Based on the last <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28231135/">Australian National Nutrition Survey</a>, children aged 2–3 years consumed <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/4364.0.55.0112011-12?OpenDocument">32 grams of added sugar per day</a> equivalent to 8 teaspoons of white sugar.</p>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/public-health-nutrition/article/nutrition-and-packaging-characteristics-of-toddler-foods-and-milks-in-australia/1C6BA80843B773FC058BD3087D1A22BA">research</a> shows the increased availability of ultra-processed foods for very young children may be contributing to a sugary diet.</p>
<p>So what can parents do about it?</p>
<h2>What too much sugar does to children</h2>
<p>The problem with too much sugar in our diets is it provides kilojoules but little else nutritionally. </p>
<p>These extra kilojoules <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23321486/">promote weight gain and obesity</a>. They also contribute strongly to <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8501477/">tooth decay in young children</a> and often <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/4727.0.55.0052012-13?OpenDocument">displace healthy options</a> like fruits, vegetables, and dairy foods from a child’s diet.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/dental-oral-health/oral-health-and-dental-care-in-australia/contents/healthy-mouths#:%7E:text=Maintaining%20a%20healthy%20mouth%20relies%20upon%20practising%20good,twice%20a%20day%20using%20fluoride%20toothpaste%20%28DoH%202018%29.">One in every four</a> Australian children has dental cavities in their baby or permanent teeth. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/not-all-calories-are-equal-a-dietitian-explains-the-different-ways-the-kinds-of-foods-you-eat-matter-to-your-body-156900">Not all calories are equal – a dietitian explains the different ways the kinds of foods you eat matter to your body</a>
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<hr>
<p>The <a href="https://www.who.int/publications-detail-redirect/9789241549028">World Health Organization</a> (WHO) recommends “free sugar intake” be limited to less than 10% of our total daily kilojoules for everyone. In fact, the WHO is now considering reducing that amount down to 5% given the knowledge <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/4364.0.55.011%7E2011-12%7EMain%20Features%7EConsumption%20of%20Added%20Sugars%20-%20A%20comparison%20of%201995%20to%202011-12%7E20">children’s sugar intakes remain high</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.foodstandards.gov.au/consumer/nutrition/Pages/Sugar.aspx">Free sugars</a> are those added to foods and drinks, as well as sugars naturally present in honey, fruit juices, and fruit juice concentrates. Free sugars do not include natural sugars found within whole (unprocessed) fruits and vegetables or milk. </p>
<p>Results from the <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/4364.0.55.011%7E2011-12%7EMain%20Features%7EDietary%20Energy%20from%20Free%20Sugars%7E9">Australian National Nutrition Survey</a> indicate toddlers aged 2–3 years consumed 11% of their total energy intake from free sugar on average. Half of the toddlers exceeded the current WHO free sugar recommendation.</p>
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<h2>Where is the sugar coming from?</h2>
<p>The latest National Health <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/4364.0.55.011%7E2011-12%7EMain%20Features%7EDietary%20Energy%20from%20Free%20Sugars%7E9">survey</a> also tells us sugar comes mostly from highly processed foods like bakery products, sugar-sweetened beverages, chocolate and confectionary, breakfast cereals and desserts. </p>
<p><a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26794833/">These foods</a> provide 80–90% children’s daily added sugar intake. </p>
<p>But it’s not just about treats. Commercial infant and toddler foods are a major source of hidden sugars in young children’s diets. These are largely ultra-processed foods that have undergone multiple industrial processes. They contain ingredients such as added sugar, salt, fat as well as additives to make them appealing. Ultra-processed foods often contain ingredients that would not be used if we made a similar product at home.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/public-health-nutrition/article/nutrition-and-packaging-characteristics-of-toddler-foods-and-milks-in-australia/1C6BA80843B773FC058BD3087D1A22BA">Our research</a> shows, ultra-processed foods, particularly snack foods, are common. They comprise 85% of all foods marketed as for toddlers in Australia (as of 2019). </p>
<p>These ultra-processed toddler foods often contain ingredients like fruit pastes, purees or concentrates. They can sound healthy – with slogans like “made from real fruit” – but are very different from the whole fruit they come from. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495239/original/file-20221115-15-44kkrd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="toddler being offered cut up fruit" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495239/original/file-20221115-15-44kkrd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495239/original/file-20221115-15-44kkrd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495239/original/file-20221115-15-44kkrd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495239/original/file-20221115-15-44kkrd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495239/original/file-20221115-15-44kkrd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495239/original/file-20221115-15-44kkrd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495239/original/file-20221115-15-44kkrd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Offer whole food rather than ultra-processed foods.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/mother-gives-toddler-baby-fruits-600w-2197707739.jpg">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ultra-processed-foods-are-trashing-our-health-and-the-planet-180115">Ultra-processed foods are trashing our health – and the planet</a>
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<p>Consumers might assume these products are healthy due to the labelling and images of fruit on the package. But our body <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10408398.2018.1502743?journalCode=bfsn20">handles ultra-processed foods</a> very differently than it does a whole food, which has had no or minimal processing. </p>
<p>Some toddler foods marketed as “no added sugar” or “all natural” are in some cases, up to <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/public-health-nutrition/article/nutrition-and-packaging-characteristics-of-toddler-foods-and-milks-in-australia/1C6BA80843B773FC058BD3087D1A22BA">50% fruit sugar</a> in the form of fruit purees or concentrates. </p>
<p>Some <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/public-health-nutrition/article/nutrition-and-packaging-characteristics-of-toddler-foods-and-milks-in-australia/1C6BA80843B773FC058BD3087D1A22BA">toddler milks</a>, which are also ultra-processed, contain more sugar in the same volume than a soft drink. And nearly a third of <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/public-health-nutrition/article/nutrition-and-packaging-characteristics-of-toddler-foods-and-milks-in-australia/1C6BA80843B773FC058BD3087D1A22BA">savoury foods</a> for toddlers contain fruit purees as well. </p>
<p>While this may make the food more palatable to a child, ensuring parents buy it again, it also ensures children will develop a preference for sweetness.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/food-and-drinks-are-getting-sweeter-even-if-its-not-all-sugar-its-bad-for-our-health-187605">Food and drinks are getting sweeter. Even if it's not all sugar, it's bad for our health</a>
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<h2>3 things parents can do</h2>
<p>While there is no need to remove all free sugar, the evidence tells us most children are consuming more than is good for them. So how can we cut that down?</p>
<p><strong>1. Demand accurate labelling</strong></p>
<p>Honest food labelling where food manufacturers are required to reveal how much added sugar is in food products is needed. For example, a clear “added sugar” definition would ensure that all harmful sugars are included in food labels, including the highly processed fruit-based ingredients used in infant and toddler foods. You can sign up to advocate for this via the <a href="https://www.opc.org.au/kids-are-sweet-enough">Kids are Sweet Enough</a> campaign.</p>
<p><strong>2. Pantry swaps</strong></p>
<p>Replace sugar-sweetened foods with foods often already in the kitchen. Swap out the common sources of sugar including cakes, biscuits, pastries, sugar and sweet spreads with wholegrain breads, low sugar cereals (like porridge or Weet-Bix), vegetables and fruits (cut to safe swallowing size) and nut pastes.<br>
<a href="https://www.eatforhealth.gov.au/sites/default/files/files/the_guidelines/n56b_infant_feeding_summary_130808.pdf">Swap</a> sugar-sweetened beverages, sweetened dairy products and toddler milks with plain water (boiled and cooled for children over 6 months) and unflavoured cows milk (from 12 months of age). </p>
<p><strong>3. Plug into places to learn more</strong></p>
<p>For practical advice and support on feeding your baby or toddler, download the My Baby Now App from the App Store or Google Play. </p>
<p>Parents can join our free online course <a href="https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/infant-nutrition">Infant Nutrition</a>, or <a href="https://www.infantprogram.org/">search here</a> to see if the INFANT (INfant Feeding, Activity Play and NuTrition) Program is running in your area.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/sugar-detox-cutting-carbs-a-doctor-explains-why-you-should-keep-fruit-on-the-menu-173992">Sugar detox? Cutting carbs? A doctor explains why you should keep fruit on the menu</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/194168/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Miaobing(Jazzmin) Zheng receives funding from National Health Medical Research Council Early Career Fellowship. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rachel Laws has previously been funded by National Health and Medical Resource Council Early Career Fellowship (2015-2017). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer McCann, Julie Woods, and Karen Campbell do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>‘Free sugars’ should only make up 10% of children’s diets. But Australian toddlers are eating 11% sugar on average.Jennifer McCann, Lecturer, PhD student, Deakin UniversityMiaobing (Jazzmin) Zheng, NHMRC Early Career Research Fellow, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1936002022-11-21T13:14:55Z2022-11-21T13:14:55ZAir pollution harms the brain and mental health, too – a large-scale analysis documents effects on brain regions associated with emotions<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495285/original/file-20221115-12-5koaz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=270%2C90%2C4741%2C3013&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">As the planet heats up, air pollution is getting worse.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/california-los-angeles-smog-over-los-angeles-royalty-free-image/916896750?phrase=air%20pollution&adppopup=true">Westend61/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/research-brief-83231">Research Brief</a> is a short take about interesting academic work.</em> </p>
<h2>The big idea</h2>
<p>People who breathe polluted air experience changes within the brain regions that control emotions, and as a result, they may be more likely to develop anxiety and depression than those who breathe cleaner air. These are the key findings of a systematic review that my colleagues and I recently published in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuro.2022.10.011">the journal NeuroToxicology</a>. </p>
<p>Our interdisciplinary team reviewed more than 100 research articles from both animal and human studies that focused on the effects of outdoor air pollution on mental health and regions of the brain that regulate emotions. The three main brain regions we focused on were the hippocampus, amygdala and the prefrontal cortex. </p>
<p>In our analysis, 73% of the studies reported higher mental health symptoms and behaviors in humans and animals, such as rats, that were exposed to higher than average levels of air pollution. Some exposures that led to negative effects occurred in air pollution ranges that are currently considered “safe” by the <a href="https://www.epa.gov/pm-pollution/national-ambient-air-quality-standards-naaqs-pm">Environmental Protection Agency’s standards</a>. In addition, we discovered that 95% of studies examining brain effects found significant physical and functional changes within the emotion-regulation brain regions in those exposed to increased levels of air pollution. </p>
<p>Most of these studies found that exposure to elevated levels of air pollution is associated with increased <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-inflammation-two-immunologists-explain-how-the-body-responds-to-everything-from-stings-to-vaccination-and-why-it-sometimes-goes-wrong-193503">inflammation</a> and changes to the regulation of neurotransmitters, which act as the brain’s chemical messengers.</p>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>Research into the physical health effects associated with air pollution exposure, such as asthma and respiratory issues, have been <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/17/6212">well documented</a> for decades. </p>
<p>But only over the last 10 years or so have researchers begun to understand how air pollution can affect the brain. Studies have shown that small air pollutants, such as ultrafine particles from vehicle exhaust, can affect the brain either <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/08958370490439597">directly</a>, by traveling through the nose and into the brain, or <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pharmthera.2020.107523">indirectly</a>, by causing inflammation and altered immune responses in the body that can then cross into the brain.</p>
<p>At the same time, researchers are increasingly documenting the association between air pollution and its negative effects on mental health.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, research suggests that <a href="https://www.epa.gov/air-research/air-quality-and-climate-change-research">air pollution will only worsen</a> as climate change intensifies and carbon emissions remain <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/06/30/1103595898/supreme-court-epa-climate-change">unregulated</a>. </p>
<p>For this reason, more research into the health effects of air pollution exposure that goes beyond respiratory health outcomes into the realm of biological psychiatry is badly needed. For instance, the neurobiological mechanisms through which air pollution increases risk for mental health symptoms are still poorly understood.</p>
<h2>What still isn’t known</h2>
<p>In addition to our primary findings, our team also identified some notable gaps within the research that need to be addressed in order to paint a fuller picture of the relationship between air pollution and brain health. </p>
<p>Relatively few studies examined the effects of air pollution exposure during early life, such as infancy and toddlerhood, and in childhood and adolescence. This is especially concerning given that the brain <a href="https://doi.org/10.1196/annals.1308.009">continues to develop</a> until young adulthood and therefore may be particularly susceptible to the effects of air pollution. </p>
<p>We also found that within the studies investigating air pollution effects on the brain, only 10 were conducted in humans. While research on animals has extensively
shown that air pollution can cause a host of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuint.2021.104989">changes within the animal brain</a>, the research on how air pollution affects the human brain is much more limited. What’s more, most of the existing brain studies in humans have focused on physical changes, such as differences in overall brain size. More research is needed that relies on a technique called functional brain imaging, which could enable researchers like us to detect subtle or smaller changes that may occur before physical changes. </p>
<p>In the future, our team plans to use brain imaging methods to study how air pollution increases the risk of anxiety during adolescence. We plan to use a variety of techniques, including <a href="https://www.habitatmap.org/airbeam">personal air monitors</a> that children can wear as they go about their day, allowing us to more accurately assess their exposure.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/193600/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Clara G. Zundel does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In a systematic review of existing studies, researchers found that air pollution such as fine particulate matter can interfere with regions of the brain responsible for emotional regulation.Clara G. Zundel, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1931922022-10-25T20:22:51Z2022-10-25T20:22:51ZDevelopment of vision in early childhood: No screens before age two<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491691/original/file-20221025-22-wx4aqi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=14%2C7%2C979%2C655&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Electronic devices are not, in and of themselves, a source of visual problems. Using these devices inappropriately can interfere with the natural development of the eye, as well as reading and learning skills. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Things are busy on a rainy Saturday afternoon when I make a trip to the mall to finalize some back-to-school shopping. I pass by a lot of people, including several parents with young children under two years old, in strollers, and am struck by the fact that all of the children have a tablet or phone in their hands. Has technology become the ultimate tool for keeping children calm?</p>
<p>As an optometrist and eye health expert, this observation saddens me every time I see it, since I know all the harmful effects such exposure to electronic tools can have on children.</p>
<p>These effects are all the more critical during the first years of life, both on the <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34625399/">visual level</a> and on the <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36190219/">cognitive and social development of children</a>.</p>
<h2>Visual development of children</h2>
<p>The human eye develops <a href="https://www.nationwidechildrens.org/family-resources-education/health-wellness-and-safety-resources/helping-hands/infant-vision-birth-to-one-year">through stimulation</a>. The quality of the optical stimulus influences the growth of the eyeball via a complex and balanced mechanism. At birth, the eye is hyperopic, that is to say, its power is not perfectly adjusted to its size. A child sees at short distances and is barely able to distinguish a shadow when grandpa comes to the bedroom door.</p>
<p>In the first few weeks, the eye grows, the retina matures and a balance is established between the growth of the eyeball and the power of the inner lens. At six months of age, each of the toddler’s two eyes has the vision of an adult eye. From this moment on, the eyes will develop their coordination, in order to generate vision in three dimensions. It’s also starting at the age of six months that the communication between the eyes develops in the visual brain as well.</p>
<p>Billions of neurological connections will have to be made during the <a href="https://opto.umontreal.ca/clinique/pdf/EFFETS%20DES%20ECRANS%20SUR%20LE%20D%C3%89VELOPPEMENT%20VISUEL%20DES%20ENFANTS.pdf">first eight years of life</a>. This maturation time is long, but necessary, considering that <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0149763413001917">more than a third of the brain’s neurons are dedicated to vision</a>.</p>
<h2>A question of distance</h2>
<p>Electronic devices are not, in themselves, a source of visual problems. Rather, the inappropriate use of these devices can interfere with the natural development of the eye, as well as reading and learning skills.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489407/original/file-20221012-17-g43eu3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two small children with glasses sitting on white chairs : a boy with a tablet computer, a girl with a cell phone" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489407/original/file-20221012-17-g43eu3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489407/original/file-20221012-17-g43eu3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489407/original/file-20221012-17-g43eu3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489407/original/file-20221012-17-g43eu3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489407/original/file-20221012-17-g43eu3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489407/original/file-20221012-17-g43eu3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489407/original/file-20221012-17-g43eu3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">For normal visual development, it is recommended that exposure to electronic devices be avoided between the ages of zero and two years.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The first thing to consider is viewing distance. The eye is designed to look at a near distance that is about equal to the length of the forearm (distance from the elbow to the fingertips of the hand). That means about <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0042698913000795">30 cm for a young child, and 40 cm for an adult</a>. However, tablets and phones are held on average 20-30 cm from the eye, and this distance <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/cxo.12453">becomes shorter with prolonged exposure</a>. The visual effort required to maintain a clear image at this distance is therefore doubled.</p>
<p>A distance that is too short influences the quality of the retinal image (and therefore visual development) and causes <a href="https://books.google.ca/books?hl=fr&lr=&id=jGGROHBFYt8C">excessive eye fatigue</a>. It is also important to understand that when eyes must accommodate short distances, they automatically converge towards the nose in order to focus at the normal reading distance. Too much effort spent accommodating the short distance is therefore accompanied by a greater than normal convergence. As the eye cannot maintain this prolonged effort over a long period of time, it will relax its effort and the perceived image will become blurred for a while, a sensory penalty that we want to avoid. After a period of rest, the eye will resume its effort, and this alternation between the clearness and the blur will continue as long as attention to the close image is required. So, ideally, the tablet or phone should always be kept at the distance of the forearm.</p>
<h2>Constant stimulation is not recommended</h2>
<p>The use of electronic tools, with games or videos, requires a constant attention span, without breaks. This is the second factor to consider. When a child draws in a notebook or reads a paper book, he or she will instinctively stop at some point, look elsewhere, far away, and become interested in something else around them. These pauses and breaks are beneficial <a href="https://www.aoa.org/healthy-eyes/eye-and-vision-conditions/computer-vision-syndrome?sso=y">for the visual system to recover from its effort</a>. Focusing on targets at a distance is also beneficial to the child’s visual development. With electronic tablets, it is not uncommon to see children doing sessions of more than two to three hours continuously, without looking up from the screen.</p>
<p>The visual apparatus of children from zero to two years old is simply not sufficiently developed and robust to undergo such stress from constant stimulation in front of the screen. In particular, the structural elements of the sclera (the deep layer of the eye), which give the eye rigidity and determine its size, develop between zero and two years of age and then stabilize. The visual stimulus at these ages can interfere and therefore <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/335108098_Scleral_structure_and_biomechanics">influence the development of visual defects and pathology in later life</a>.</p>
<p>It is also important to note that the screen can emit blue light. Children’s eyes do not filter these rays like those of an adult. This means that children are exposed to more blue light, which may stimulate nearsightedness and disrupt the secretion of melatonin, <a href="https://www.myopiainstitute.com/eye-care/how-blue-light-affects-your-vision-and-overall-health/">which regulates our biological clock</a>. This can disrupt the naps necessary for children of this age, as well as sleep during the night. Sleep loss can also lead to myopia.</p>
<h2>Let’s learn about electronics</h2>
<p>For normal visual development, it is therefore recommended to <a href="https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/128/5/1040/30928/Media-Use-by-Children-Younger-Than-2-Years?_ga=2.208746386.1459529850.1665228699-655911314.1665228699?autologincheck=redirected?nfToken=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000">avoid all exposure to electronic devices between the ages of zero and two</a>. The exception would be occasional video conversations, under the supervision of a parent, to say hello to a grandparent who lives far away, for a few minutes.</p>
<p>From the age of two years on, an hour of exposure per day can be considered, especially to consult educational sites, always accompanied by a parent or an educator.</p>
<p>When the visual system is mature, around the age of six to eight, exposure can be increased gradually, without exceeding two to three hours per day, with 10-minute breaks every hour. Electronic device use should be avoided during meals, family activities, and at least one hour before sleep.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489410/original/file-20221012-24-ip7l62.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Young mother holding her cute, crying baby daughter, looking at a tablet during a virtual video call business or family meeting at a distance" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489410/original/file-20221012-24-ip7l62.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489410/original/file-20221012-24-ip7l62.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489410/original/file-20221012-24-ip7l62.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489410/original/file-20221012-24-ip7l62.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489410/original/file-20221012-24-ip7l62.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489410/original/file-20221012-24-ip7l62.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489410/original/file-20221012-24-ip7l62.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rare video conversations, with parental supervision, to wave to a grandparent from a distance, for a few minutes, can be considered.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Let’s play outside!</h2>
<p>The best advice for successful visual development is to encourage exposure to outdoor light for <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6678505/#:%7E:text=Each%20additional%20hour%20of%20daily,by%2013%25%20%5B23%5D.">at least one hour per day, ideally two hours</a>. We are talking about playing, walking, and activities that are done outside. The amount of light is then much greater than indoors, which would stimulate the production of dopamine, a chemical mediator essential to regulating the growth of the eye. This is the most effective way to prevent the onset of myopia in children.</p>
<p>It is also important to make sure that a child’s visual system is normal and developing naturally. Therefore, the first examination by an optometrist should be done at six months of age (to validate that the eye has normal optics and that there are no congenital defects), and then at three years of age to evaluate eye coordination. If everything is normal, the next examination will take place at five years of age, and annually thereafter, <a href="http://nada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/BK-ChildrenAndTheirVision-2018-EN.pdf">considering that vision can change rapidly</a>.</p>
<p>In the case of an abnormality, the earlier we intervene in the process, the easier it is to restore normal oculo-visual function, either by exercise or by optical means.</p>
<p>By following these recommendations for visual hygiene, we will protect children’s visual system and ensure their normal development.</p>
<p>And let’s not forget that the most beautiful screen in the world is nature! We should offer it to our children more often.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/193192/count.gif" alt="La Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Langis Michaud ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>The impact of using electronic devices is critical during the first years of life, both visually and on the cognitive and social development of the child.Langis Michaud, Professeur Titulaire. École d'optométrie. Expertise en santé oculaire et usage des lentilles cornéennes spécialisées, Université de MontréalLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1900102022-09-25T05:12:02Z2022-09-25T05:12:02ZBusiness mentoring and support in South Africa: how principals can improve early childhood development centres<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484574/original/file-20220914-4946-spyrev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=18%2C0%2C2924%2C2191&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Early learning and play are key to children's development - and their futures.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jessica Ronaasen</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Early childhood development centres, often referred to as crèches, day cares, edu-cares or preschools, are vital spaces for young children. There, they can learn and play, interacting with their peers and receiving care while their parents are at work or looking for work. These centres are <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0885200616300047">crucial building blocks</a> for <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047272714000899">children’s development</a> – and their futures. </p>
<p>In South Africa, <a href="https://dboh-cmpzourl.maillist-manage.com/click.zc?m=1&mrd=1d364fb2a9769edd&od=3z5b5b23d5faf3ccec30febb087a03d44bb7fa846ad636bcf25de8b0b5d00e5d47&linkDgs=1d364fb2a9769697&repDgs=1d364fb2a9769fe6">1, 660, 3173 children</a> are enrolled in 42, 420 early childhood development programmes. </p>
<p>Early childhood development centres have another role, too, that isn’t often discussed: as employers. This is particularly important in a country like South Africa, which has an <a href="https://www.statssa.gov.za/?p=15685">unemployment rate of 33.9%</a>. Across the country, <a href="https://dboh-cmpzourl.maillist-manage.com/click.zc?m=1&mrd=1d364fb2a9769edd&od=3z5b5b23d5faf3ccec30febb087a03d44bb7fa846ad636bcf25de8b0b5d00e5d47&linkDgs=1d364fb2a9769697&repDgs=1d364fb2a9769fe6">early childhood development centres employ 165, 059 people</a>, most of them women, as “teaching” staff which. That’s a substantial and growing workforce.</p>
<p>Managing employees, children, parents and infrastructure is a tough task. That means early childhood development centre principals are key figures. They are, of course, often a facility’s public face and figurehead. But they are also business people: managers, charged with resource allocation, planning and organisational leadership. </p>
<p>These skills have become even more crucial since <a href="https://www.gov.za/speeches/minister-angie%C2%A0motshekga-ecd-function-shift-handover-1-apr-2022-0000">a shift</a> in April 2022 that means South Africa’s Department of Basic Education governs the early childhood development sector, a role that used to be performed by the Department of Social Development. Principals are called upon to be adaptable and responsive to change as the sector adjusts to the new processes and policies under the Department of Basic Education.</p>
<p>The problem, as <a href="https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/123647">my recent PhD research</a> shows, is that many early childhood development centre principals don’t have the necessary human resource and programme management skills to turn the governance shift into an opportunity. Nor have they been properly taught how to coordinate the many moving parts involved in running a centre. </p>
<p>That’s despite the importance of these skills being highlighted in the government’s <a href="https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201610/national-integrated-ecd-policy-web-version-final-01-08-2016a.pdf#page=108">early childhood development policy</a>. The policy states that, by 2030, all early childhood development practitioners and principals should have adequate knowledge, skills, infrastructure, and materials to support a “comprehensive package” of early learning services. It also <a href="https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201610/national-integrated-ecd-policy-web-version-final-01-08-2016a.pdf#page=110">says that</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It is the responsibility of the government departments such as Department of Basic Education to mobilise funding and implement programmes to build the capacity of early childhood development practitioners.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>My research suggests this is an ambitious plan and deadline – but the goal doesn’t have to be unattainable with the right political will and investment in leadership.</p>
<h2>What principals told me</h2>
<p>The aim of my PhD study was to gain an understanding of the essential management competencies of principals in the early childhood development sector to effectively manage centres in South Africa. There were 30 participants; 14 were principals of early childhood development centres and 16 were managers working in the early childhood development sector.</p>
<p>Some of the problems I identified among principals (based on their own assessment and managers’ views) in my research were:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Principals were juggling many tasks without adequate skills and support. </p></li>
<li><p>A lack of financial literacy. Even when centres were generating decent income, principals didn’t always know how to manage money or set budgets. </p></li>
<li><p>Poor administrative skills and incomplete record keeping. </p></li>
<li><p>Poor communication skills. Principals know that these are key to building relationships with parents and staff, but aren’t always confident of their own skills.</p></li>
<li><p>Difficulties in registering centres or collecting the documentation necessary to do so. Principals said they often struggled to access the right information or meet the requirements for receiving government subsidies. This was especially problematic during COVID lockdowns, when extra financial support made the difference between centres surviving the pandemic or having to close their doors.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Principals also told me they lacked the resources, time and support needed for professional development that would benefit themselves and their staff. Principals and teaching staff learn on the job, but continuing education is also crucial.</p>
<p>So, what’s the way forward?</p>
<h2>Recommendations</h2>
<p>Several recommendations emerged from my research. Applying these can help the sector to meet its <a href="https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201610/national-integrated-ecd-policy-web-version-final-01-08-2016a.pdf">policy requirements</a>. </p>
<p>First, all early childhood development centres should create a document that defines a principal’s role and outlines what support they’ll need to fulfil that role. This document could help principals understand their functions and tasks better.</p>
<p>Second, training organisations and the government must prioritise both professional and personal development through forums and workshops for principals. This should be ongoing rather than once-off and requires investment both financial and in human resources.</p>
<p>Among other things, principals should be taught how to manage wages and resources, and to take accountability. Principals also need to be equipped with the necessary business management skills to seek out funding opportunities and cultivate partnerships who understand the nature of the early childhood development sector. </p>
<p>I also recommend that early childhood development centre managers and those working with such centres adopt evidence-based monitoring and evaluation processes for supporting registration and principal management processes.</p>
<p>Training and mentorship could help principals to develop their management and business skills. Establishing management competencies for principals can only improve the outcomes of South Africa’s youngest citizens. As one participant told me: “Leadership is a process, not a position. There is no organisational learning without individual learning.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190010/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jessica received funding for her Phd Research from the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust. Jessica consulted for The Do More Foundation.</span></em></p>Early childhood development principals aren’t just educators: they’re also managers and business people, and those skills are critical.Jessica Ronaasen, Postdoctoral fellow, Stellenbosch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1864562022-09-06T20:16:25Z2022-09-06T20:16:25ZHow caregivers can help build children’s emerging language skills<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482378/original/file-20220901-14792-5mbmre.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C200%2C4677%2C2928&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">It is not just the number of words that children hear that is important — the quality of the language children hear also matters.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When children develop the ability to understand language, as well as speak and communicate, this helps them interact with others and learn about their world. Research shows that children’s early language skills have a long reach in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0265659020947817">affecting later life outcomes</a>. </p>
<p>Children with better language skills have an <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13540">easier time regulating their emotions and interacting with their peers</a>, likely in part because they can more easily communicate their thoughts, feelings and ideas. </p>
<p>Children with better language skills are also more likely to be ready for, and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2015.10.002">succeed in school</a>, and have better <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogdev.2018.04.005">reading and writing skills</a>. When they are older, they are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1044/1058-0360(2009/08-0083)">more likely to be successful and fulfilled at work</a>.</p>
<p>Given the clear importance of language skills for lifelong outcomes, it is critical to set children up early for language success. Parents, grandparents, caregivers as well as early learning and care programs can play vital roles in supporting children’s language skills. We present three ways to help build children’s emerging language skills.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman seen holding up fingers to a toddler and talking with him." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482381/original/file-20220901-27-t4jryr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482381/original/file-20220901-27-t4jryr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482381/original/file-20220901-27-t4jryr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482381/original/file-20220901-27-t4jryr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482381/original/file-20220901-27-t4jryr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482381/original/file-20220901-27-t4jryr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482381/original/file-20220901-27-t4jryr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Early learning and care programs can play vital roles in supporting children’s language skills.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Bridget Coila/Flickr)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>1. Use language around children as often as possible</h2>
<p>Talking to, around, and especially with children <a href="https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2017-4276">supports their language learning</a>. This is the case for children of all economic and cultural backgrounds. </p>
<p>Both the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13508">quantity and the quality of what caregivers say matter</a> for children’s language learning. </p>
<p>Our research shows that children who hear more words and sentences have more words in their vocabulary and stronger language skills. So, as much as possible, talk with your children. Even when they can’t speak, children are still absorbing and learning from the language they hear around them.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man with two young children and a baby sit around a table." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481910/original/file-20220830-35381-ix7qgq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481910/original/file-20220830-35381-ix7qgq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481910/original/file-20220830-35381-ix7qgq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481910/original/file-20220830-35381-ix7qgq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481910/original/file-20220830-35381-ix7qgq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481910/original/file-20220830-35381-ix7qgq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481910/original/file-20220830-35381-ix7qgq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Children who hear more words and sentences have more words in their vocabulary and stronger language skills.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Pexels/Keira Burton)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Pretend you are a commentator, talking out loud about what you are doing, why you are doing it, and what’s happening in the child’s environment. For example, when sitting at a park with your baby or preschooler, you might say: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Look at the green tree. It’s a maple tree. How many trees do we see? That tree looks different from the tree by the bench…..” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>It is not just the number of words that children hear that is important — the quality of the language children hear also matters. </p>
<p>That means it is important to use a variety of words and sentence structures when talking to children. For example, instead of just pointing to a dog and labeling it, you can describe the fur colour of the dog, talk about what the dog is doing, and ask questions about the dog. </p>
<p>For example: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Look at the dog. The dog is so big and fluffy and has such long legs. The dog is running towards the ball. That ball sure bounces. I hope the dog can catch it.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Caregivers can also ask questions starting with words like “who, what, when, where, and why” to encourage children to provide a more complex response. This gives them the opportunity to use new words and sentence structures in their own speech. </p>
<p>Open-ended statements are also great to encourage language growth. You can use statements like: Tell me more, is that so, and then what happened…? Try to wait at least five to ten seconds to give your child time to respond. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A mother, daughter and dog." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481911/original/file-20220830-35381-phq2k6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481911/original/file-20220830-35381-phq2k6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481911/original/file-20220830-35381-phq2k6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481911/original/file-20220830-35381-phq2k6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481911/original/file-20220830-35381-phq2k6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481911/original/file-20220830-35381-phq2k6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481911/original/file-20220830-35381-phq2k6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Talking about different attributes of children’s environments and the objects around them helps children make connections.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>2. Read books with children daily</h2>
<p>Shared book reading provides another great opportunity for language learning. Book reading exposes children to new words that are less commonly used in everyday speech as well as a variety of sentence structures. Books are a great way to expose children to high quality language as well as create a unique bonding experience. </p>
<p>Reading together also helps children focus and pay attention for longer periods of time, which helps them learn and sets them up for success in school. </p>
<p>Caregivers can try to make reading with children part of their everyday routine. How you read can help improve the child’s ability to learn new words. Describe pictures, give a definition for new words, ask questions, and incorporate music. Stories provide an opportunity to make links with your child’s experiences. Even when children are still young, invite them to turn the pages of the book and ask them what they think might happen next.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/parents-play-a-key-role-in-fostering-childrens-love-of-reading-121089">Parents play a key role in fostering children's love of reading</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A dad seen reading to his baby." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482377/original/file-20220901-4342-arjlg8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482377/original/file-20220901-4342-arjlg8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482377/original/file-20220901-4342-arjlg8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482377/original/file-20220901-4342-arjlg8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482377/original/file-20220901-4342-arjlg8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482377/original/file-20220901-4342-arjlg8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482377/original/file-20220901-4342-arjlg8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Reading with children helps them focus and pay attention for longer periods of time.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Pexels/Nappy)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>3. Engage in ‘serve and return’ interactions</h2>
<p>Language skills can be developed through everyday interactions between caregivers and children. Sensitive caregivers notice vocalizations, cries, facial expressions, and other clues signaling that children need help, comfort or reassurance. </p>
<p>Sensitive interactions are often called “serve and return” interactions because they are like a game of tennis. The child “serves” a cue by pointing to something, asking a question, or saying something, and the caregiver needs to “return” the serve by repeating, answering or commenting. </p>
<p>While parents can be sensitive when speaking with their child, they can also show sensitivity by comforting a child who is sad or hurt. Our research shows that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2018-3556">when caregivers are sensitive to their child’s needs and engage in serve and return interactions</a>, children develop better language skills.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KNrnZag17Ek?wmode=transparent&start=17" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Video on ‘serve and return’ interactions from Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Even young infants benefit from serve-and-return interactions. For instance, ask your infant a question, and give them some time to answer! When they do, through uttering a sound like “da”, repeat it again, and then elaborate by saying “dada” and connect it to a reference point (like “daddy”) to encourage more language use and understanding. That way, we can support children’s inherent drive to connect and communicate with us.</p>
<p>Children begin learning language as very young babies and continue to develop their language abilities throughout childhood. Caregivers can help develop and enhance this important skill in everyday life by talking, singing, reading and tuning into them!</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/186456/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Audrey-Ann Deneault receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and from the Fonds de recherche du Québec - Société et culture.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lorraine Reggin receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and has completed two Mitacs Accelerate Internships in collaboration with Calgary Reads, a not-for-profit literacy organization in Calgary, AB. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Penny Pexman receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sheri Madigan receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Alberta Children's Hospital Foundation, and the Canada Research Chairs program.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Susan Graham receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and the Alberta Children's Hospital Foundation through the Owerko Centre.</span></em></p>Given the clear importance of language skills for lifelong outcomes, it is critical to set children up early for language success.Audrey-Ann Deneault, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Psychology, University of CalgaryLorraine Reggin, PhD student, Cognitive Psychology, University of CalgaryPenny Pexman, Professor of Psychology, University of CalgarySheri Madigan, Professor, Canada Research Chair in Determinants of Child Development, Owerko Centre at the Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute, University of CalgarySusan Graham, Professor, Department of Psychology, University of CalgaryLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1884152022-08-22T19:07:40Z2022-08-22T19:07:40ZThere is an urgent need to prevent the lifelong damage caused by adverse childhood experiences<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479766/original/file-20220817-11701-ay1khs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=201%2C40%2C6166%2C4406&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Recent advances in research on human development, and brain science in particular, have revealed that traumatic childhood literally changes the human body, affecting brain development.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/there-is-an-urgent-need-to-prevent-the-lifelong-damage-caused-by-adverse-childhood-experiences" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.bp.110.080499">More than one-third of the population experiences adversity in childhood</a> — including abuse, neglect or family violence — leaving hundreds of thousands in need of treatment. </p>
<p>Predictably, as clinical psychologists, we both recommend psychotherapy to minimize the consequences of adverse childhoods. However, an even greater concern is how, in addition to reducing the suffering it causes, chronic childhood adversity can be prevented from flooding our health-care system.</p>
<h2>The impact of childhood trauma</h2>
<p>Recent advances in research on human development, and brain science in particular, have revealed that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146%2Fannurev-devpsych-121318-084950">traumatic childhood literally changes the human body</a>. It affects brain development, the programming of our stress response system and is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2017.07.009">even passed on to the next generation</a>. </p>
<p>Knowing this helps us better understand why somebody might develop mental illness or addiction. For example, people who score four items or more on a scale of 13 traumatic childhood events (like neglect or exposure to violence) are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(17)30118-4">37 times as likely to attempt suicide</a> as people without childhood trauma. They are also 10 times as likely to develop problematic drug use as people with less trauma exposure.</p>
<p>On top of that, people with high adversity scores are four times as likely to develop depression and twice as likely to be afflicted by cancer and heart disease. In other words, all facets of health are affected. </p>
<h2>A narrow window for prevention</h2>
<p>Research on the link between trauma and illness is rich, but also complex, with few simple answers. However, that complexity should not prevent us from moving forward. In a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13541">recent editorial for the <em>Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry</em></a>, we argued that prevention programs have a lot of promise but require extremely early action, namely during pregnancy and the first two years of life. </p>
<p>That narrow timing is critical because those earliest years provide a window in which environmental experiences become biologically embedded, and then very difficult to change. </p>
<p>The human brain has billions of nerves and connections between them, called <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/synapse">synapses</a>. Together, they form networks like spider webs that begin development during pregnancy and absolutely explode in speed and complexity during the first two years of life. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Interconnecting white lines against a blue background" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479966/original/file-20220818-186-xf85eo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479966/original/file-20220818-186-xf85eo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479966/original/file-20220818-186-xf85eo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479966/original/file-20220818-186-xf85eo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479966/original/file-20220818-186-xf85eo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479966/original/file-20220818-186-xf85eo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479966/original/file-20220818-186-xf85eo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The human brain has billions of nerves and connections between them, called synapses.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Pixabay)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The next phase of <a href="https://developingchild.harvard.edu/science/key-concepts/brain-architecture/">brain development</a> is very different: the brain seeks efficiency and will lock in, or solidify, the brain connections that are used the most often. Furthermore, it will shrink or get rid of the pathways that are rarely used, in a process called synaptic pruning. </p>
<p>The bottom line is that before the age of two, a child might have already learned that the world is unsafe and adults cannot be trusted — perhaps not even to provide a stable food supply. <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.35248/2161-0487.19.9.365">The nervous system solidifies that experience and retains especially those connections that reflect fear and distrust of adults</a>. Constant reactivation of these ingrained pathways likely leads to exaggerated stress responses and interferes with needed adaptations for years to come. </p>
<p>Understanding this typical brain development leads to one overwhelmingly clear message: that we need to invest in parallel physical and mental health approaches to support healthy pregnancies and stable, caring early childhoods. However, a lot of political will and cultural sensitivity is needed for these programs to succeed.</p>
<h2>Prevention programs</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1049731505284391">research base supporting the efficacy of prevention programs</a> is strong, and supports the creation of high quality pregnancy supports and services that facilitate attachment for the child, as well as emotion regulation skills. </p>
<p>There is no one program that “fixes” everything. Prevention programs need to be tailored to specific needs and people. One type of program might be a nurse-led education and support group for first time mothers. Another might be a web-based self-help group for <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18199952">pregnant women with substance use concerns</a>. </p>
<p>A key problem with implementation is the up-front cost, and the long period of waiting before benefits are seen. This waiting-period implies that politicians and policy-makers often need to invest in programs that cannot reveal benefits before they are up for re-election. This <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F070674370204700903">makes prevention programs very vulnerable to changes in the political landscape</a>. </p>
<p>Scientists and health professionals cannot do this alone; society as a whole needs to engage. Voters can play a critical role by encouraging and supporting politicians who are willing to invest in long-term programming. The science is there; now is the time to act on it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188415/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joelle LeMoult receives funding from CIHR, SSHRC, NSERC, and the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Wolfgang Linden does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The impact of early childhood trauma on lifelong physical and mental health makes it urgent to invest in programs to support healthy pregnancies and stable, caring very early childhoods.Wolfgang Linden, Professor Emeritus in Clinical and Health Psychology, University of British ColumbiaJoelle LeMoult, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, University of British ColumbiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1887482022-08-21T20:02:34Z2022-08-21T20:02:34ZBook Week: it’s not the costume that matters, but falling in love with reading<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479558/original/file-20220817-20-ynmg73.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C8%2C1911%2C1356&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image by Victoria_Borodinova from Pixabay </span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>My phone pings and it’s a message from my brother. Do we have an old white dress my niece could borrow for a Book Week costume for school? </p>
<p><a href="https://cbca.org.au/cbca-book-week">Book Week</a> is upon us once again and all around Australia, family WhatsApp groups are lighting up with similar requests from parents and carers of primary school aged children.</p>
<p>Mothers are staring at cardboard boxes wondering how they can help their child transform into a rainbow fish. Fathers are corralling children down the aisles of Spotlight trying to find the costume section. Carers are asking children about how they want to dress for the Book Week parade, and what’s needed to complete the look.</p>
<p>In the scramble for costumes, which can add to the work of already stressed parents and carers, the point of Book Week – for kids to fall in love with reading – can get lost.</p>
<p>In fact, a vast body of research <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/284286/reading_for_pleasure.pdf">evidence</a> shows what’s crucial to building a love of reading is allowing children the time and freedom to read what interests them.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479561/original/file-20220817-22-7olb0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479561/original/file-20220817-22-7olb0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479561/original/file-20220817-22-7olb0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479561/original/file-20220817-22-7olb0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479561/original/file-20220817-22-7olb0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479561/original/file-20220817-22-7olb0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479561/original/file-20220817-22-7olb0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479561/original/file-20220817-22-7olb0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some children will use a costume to play around with the fictional character and interact in role.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by RODNAE Productions/Pexels</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Dressing up as a fictional character does have benefits</h2>
<p>I’m not saying the Book Week costume is pointless; dressing up as your favourite book character is a great way to celebrate reading, particularly when all students and teachers take part. </p>
<p>In Australia – where most school students wear uniforms – every school day out of uniform has a sense of celebration.</p>
<p>Some children will use their Book Week costume to play around with the fictional character and interact in role. </p>
<p>A child I know revelled in dressing up as Professor Snape from Harry Potter and playfully patrolled the playground in character. He was pursued by a gang of younger Potter fans with their house colours on, yelling out to him in role and giggling when he responded gruffly as Snape. </p>
<p>These children were playing but they were also learning; it was an opportunity to improvise scenes based on a novel they loved to read, and to celebrate this reading across the school.</p>
<p>“Snape” himself had read the novels when he was younger; his love of the text and pleasures of the fictional world spurred him on to read a much more difficult text than he normally would at that age.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479562/original/file-20220817-12-tnigzf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479562/original/file-20220817-12-tnigzf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479562/original/file-20220817-12-tnigzf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479562/original/file-20220817-12-tnigzf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479562/original/file-20220817-12-tnigzf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479562/original/file-20220817-12-tnigzf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479562/original/file-20220817-12-tnigzf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479562/original/file-20220817-12-tnigzf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dressing up can allow a child to celebrate the character and texts they love.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by cottonbro/Pexels</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What really matters is not the costume, but falling in love with reading</h2>
<p><a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/284286/reading_for_pleasure.pdf">Extensive research</a> shows reading for pleasure improves young people’s overall reading skills, as well as test outcomes. </p>
<p>Creating a culture of reading in school can help children fall in love with reading, where children read books they choose themselves for their own pleasure. </p>
<p>Some schools provide a <a href="https://theconversation.com/10-ways-to-get-the-most-out-of-silent-reading-in-schools-123531">time and place for silent reading</a> as part of the school day, but sadly this is not always the case. </p>
<p>Providing time for sustained, self-selected reading is important, as many children do not read for pleasure outside school time. </p>
<p>Finding a book they love, with help from another child, a teacher, or librarian, can help a child to develop the habit of reading.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479564/original/file-20220817-14-y2ci23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479564/original/file-20220817-14-y2ci23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479564/original/file-20220817-14-y2ci23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479564/original/file-20220817-14-y2ci23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479564/original/file-20220817-14-y2ci23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479564/original/file-20220817-14-y2ci23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479564/original/file-20220817-14-y2ci23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479564/original/file-20220817-14-y2ci23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Finding a book they love can help a child develop a reading habit.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Ksenia Chernaya/Pexels</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>So what would work to help my child fall in love with reading?</h2>
<p>Encourage your child’s reading of fiction and let them choose books for themselves. </p>
<p>Facilitate trips to the library if you can, and spend time with them selecting what interests them. </p>
<p>Don’t judge your kids on what they love, and don’t force your kids to read what you deem a “worthy” book.</p>
<p>Too often kids experience what author and teacher <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=-Pemw9rwdo8C&oi=fnd&pg=PR5&dq=dressing+up+character+confidence+drama+school+gallagher&ots=KAkdW9mHdk&sig=KoYqmCAg2Sjo9hUtVCMgvrXjoNc#v=onepage&q&f=false">Kelly Gallagher calls “readicide”</a>: the “systematic killing of the love of reading, often exacerbated by the inane, mind-numbing practices of schools”.</p>
<p>It’s possible to commit readicide in the home if it becomes a forced, systematic chore where your child has no choice over what they are reading.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479565/original/file-20220817-14-f8fjl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479565/original/file-20220817-14-f8fjl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479565/original/file-20220817-14-f8fjl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479565/original/file-20220817-14-f8fjl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479565/original/file-20220817-14-f8fjl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479565/original/file-20220817-14-f8fjl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479565/original/file-20220817-14-f8fjl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479565/original/file-20220817-14-f8fjl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Don’t judge your kids on what they love or force them to read books you deem ‘worthy’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image by Victoria_Borodinova from Pixabay</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So, rather than judging, enjoy their pleasures and invite them to share their books with you. </p>
<p>Share your own reading with them, and make it visible to them. </p>
<p>I read novels on my phone, which I love, as I can read in bed with the light off. But it’s not as obvious when I am reading fiction as it would be if I was reading a printed book – so I try to bring up my reading in my conversations with my children.</p>
<p>It’s a small action, but anything you can to do help establish a culture of reading in the family helps establish reading for pleasure as a normalised behaviour. </p>
<p>So this Book Week, don’t stress about the costume, and don’t worry about what the other mums or dads are sewing or buying. </p>
<p>Just let your kid read what they want and enjoy it together.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188748/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joanne O'Mara receives funding from The Australian Research Council and the Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. She is a member of the Victorian Association for the Teaching of English Council. </span></em></p>This Book Week, don’t stress about the costume and don’t worry about what the other mums or dads are sewing or buying. Costumes are fun but what matters is to let your kid read what they enjoy.Joanne O'Mara, Associate Professor in Education, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1876852022-08-16T20:04:42Z2022-08-16T20:04:42ZCOVID changed drop-off and pick ups – but parents can still have a strong relationship with their child’s educators<p>One of the most obvious changes COVID has made to early childhood education in Australia has been around drop-offs and pick-ups. </p>
<p>Pre-pandemic, parents would come into centres and help their child settle in every day. During this time, they could see where their child spent their day and chat informally to educators. </p>
<p>But COVID has seen this stop or become sporadic. It is now common for parents to just drop their children off at the front door or gate, as centres and preschools/kindergartens try and control the spread of the virus. Understandably, this can leave families <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003257684-8/drop-gate-anja-marschall-karen-prins-sine-penthin-gruml%C3%B8se?context=ubx">feeling disconnected</a> from their child’s early learning and their educators. </p>
<p>We are researchers in early childhood education. Here’s why is it important for parents to have strong relationships with their child’s teachers – and how can you keep them going in the pandemic.</p>
<h2>Our research</h2>
<p>During lockdowns in 2020, we did <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003257684-3/back-day-one-katherine-bussey-natalie-robertson-deborah-moore?context=ubx">a study</a> with a group of 40 kindergarten (preschool) teachers and student teachers in metropolitan Melbourne.</p>
<p>We wanted to know how their work changed during the pandemic. </p>
<p>The results are published in a newly released <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Early-Childhood-Education-and-Care-in-a-Global-Pandemic-How-the-Sector/Henderson-Bussey-Ebrahim/p/book/9781032190990">book</a> about early education and childcare around the world during COVID. </p>
<h2>Why is the relationship between parents and educators so important?</h2>
<p>Some parents may think they just need to drop their children off and pick them up each day. But in reality, the closer and more communicative their relationship is with their child’s teacher, the better. </p>
<p>Research has shown strong relationships support <a href="https://dera.ioe.ac.uk//8543/">children’s academic learning</a>, including early literacy and numeracy knowledge. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-early-childhood-learning-and-care-system-works-and-doesnt-work-it-will-take-some-fixing-185299">How the early childhood learning and care system works (and doesn't work) – it will take some fixing</a>
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<p>Other <a href="https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10566-019-09505-9.pdf">studies show</a> stronger family-teacher relationships and communication enhances children’s persistence, levels of attention, motivation, and emotional regulation. </p>
<p>When families are involved in what children are learning in their centre, this shows them how to continue this learning at home. In turn, if families share what they are doing at home, teachers can continue this learning in the classroom. This supports <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0885200615000666#!">shared involvement</a> in children’s learning and development. </p>
<h2>What changed during COVID?</h2>
<p>More than two years of the pandemic has seen centre closures and parents banned from classrooms. This has made it much more difficult for parents and teachers to interact. </p>
<p>Teachers in our study talked about moving online to communicate with parents, using <a href="https://www.centresupport.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Health-and-Wellbeing-Guide-Young-Children-and-Digital-Technologies.pdf">digital platforms</a>, such as Storypark, Kinderloop and Playgound. These allow teachers to upload photos and messages about the day and children’s wellbeing and development. Like other professionals, Zoom has also been used to meet children and parents outside the classroom. </p>
<p>These methods really helped teachers and families stay connected but they were no replacement for in-person interactions. The long breaks from centres increased the challenges around making children comfortable at their centre or preschool. </p>
<h2>What did this mean for drop-offs?</h2>
<p>The changes brought by COVID made it more difficult to keep to routines and unsettled some children. However, as our study found, other children benefited from more independence at drop-offs. </p>
<p>As one teacher noted: </p>
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<p>Some children haven’t quite gotten into the routine of things so in the morning, they might have a little bit of a cry […] you can tell they’re a bit confused and they’re still getting used to things.</p>
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<p>Another interviewee added: </p>
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<p>Kids are obviously finding it hard to come back […] Some kids are quite upset or the other direction [in terms of behaviour], they’re just bouncing off the walls.</p>
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<p>However, once children got used to coming back to in-person learning, not having parents do drop-offs in the classrooms had some unintended benefits. As one teacher told us: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’ve missed the parents, but I tell you what, the children are much more settled.</p>
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<p>Another teacher noted, when the children come into the classroom, “they’re more independent” for example, they take responsibility for their own belongings.</p>
<p>In fact, the new opportunities for increasing children’s independence led to some teachers deciding to continue the practice of families farewelling children at the gate.</p>
<h2>How can you build a relationship with your child’s educator?</h2>
<p>Early childhood educators are passionate about your child’s learning and want to work with you. They know strong relationships with parents are a key part of their jobs. </p>
<p>Here are some ways you can facilitate a good relationship: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>if you have to drop your child at the gate, ensure you communicate clearly that you are leaving and what the pick-up arrangement will be later today. For example: “I’m going now, and Nana will pick you up after lunch”</p></li>
<li><p>ask your child’s educator open-ended questions about your child’s day, such as “What was the highlight of Archie’s day?” or “What is something Millie learned today?” </p></li>
<li><p>tell your child’s educator what you did over the weekend or during family holidays, to help them engage with your child about home life</p></li>
<li><p>share information about cultural events celebrated in your family </p></li>
<li><p>if you are using digital sharing platforms, instead of just “liking” a post, share something similar or relevant that happens at home. </p></li>
</ul>
<h2>A sector under pressure</h2>
<p>In 2022, there remains significant disruption and uncertainty around early childhood education, due to ongoing staff and child illnesses. </p>
<p>There are also staff shortages which are causing centres to close for days at a time. </p>
<p>These pressures have exacerbated existing challenges, with high numbers of staff <a href="https://theconversation.com/early-childhood-educators-are-leaving-in-droves-here-are-3-ways-to-keep-them-and-attract-more-153187">leaving the workforce</a> and others experiencing <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1836939120979062">workload pressures</a>. </p>
<p>Building relationships with your child’s educators and centre has never been more important. If you support them, they can better support your child’s learning. </p>
<p><em>The authors would like to acknowledge Early Childhood Management Services as a partner in the research informing this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/187685/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katherine Bussey is affiliated with Infant and Toddler Advocacy Network Australia (ITANA), a not for profit organisation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Deborah Moore received funding from the Department of Education and Training (DET), Victorian Government, for the implementation of the study this paper is based on. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Natalie Robertson received funding from the Department of Education and Training (DET), Victorian Government, for the implementation of the study this paper is based on</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shelli Giosis works as a teacher for Early Childhood Management Services.</span></em></p>The pandemic has meant some parents have to just drop their young children at the gate and go, without seeing the classroom and talking to teachers.Katherine Bussey, Research Fellow, Early Childhood and Teacher Education, Deakin UniversityDeborah Moore, Associate Lecturer in Education, Monash UniversityNatalie Robertson, Lecturer in Early Childhood Education, Deakin UniversityShelli Giosis, Casual Academic- Early Years Education, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1841452022-06-20T19:55:47Z2022-06-20T19:55:47ZGrowing up in a disadvantaged neighbourhood can change kids’ brains – and their reactions<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469638/original/file-20220620-24-k915ll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=25%2C12%2C4203%2C2800&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1483193722442-5422d99849bc?ixlib=rb-1.2.1&ixid=MnwxMjA3fDB8MHxwaG90by1wYWdlfHx8fGVufDB8fHx8&auto=format&fit=crop&w=2070&q=80">Unsplash/Caleb Woods</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Understanding the facial expressions of others is an important development stage. It helps us learn non-verbal communication and to recognise when someone is angry or scared and primes us to react to threats or show empathy for others’ feelings. A growing body of evidence suggests our neighbourhood environment shapes this response in children’s brains in different ways, depending on the dynamics of the neighbourhood itself.</p>
<p>The amygdala is an important brain structure for recognising and reacting to facial expressions. It is responsible for our “<a href="https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/understanding-the-stress-response">fight or flight</a>” response and is sensitive to emotional facial expressions, especially those <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1219167110">related to threats</a>. </p>
<p>While this primitive alert system is useful to keep us safe, the amygdala can’t differentiate between real threats and emotions like <a href="https://acamh.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jcpp.12316">stress, aggression, anger or fear</a>. This means we often have the same “fight or flight” response to different situations. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8777301/">A recent study</a> examined the link between neighbourhood disadvantage and amygdala reactivity to emotional faces in kids. The <a href="https://theconversation.com/kids-neighborhoods-can-affect-their-developing-brains-a-new-study-finds-184035">researchers</a> wanted to understand whether positive or negative <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00420980120087081?casa_token=mnqdCiHv3GEAAAAA:90m8pFnT_t0YJKQvk7Oji_KIDjAMxqCd7PpZ0tl7hnjjNBTL11TDQcPY9jsuQUAJf2W5m2tsG1u0VQc">social aspects of the neighbourhood</a> could influence amygdala reactivity in childhood. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469640/original/file-20220620-26-9u1snj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="outline of brain with two small red dots highlighted" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469640/original/file-20220620-26-9u1snj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469640/original/file-20220620-26-9u1snj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469640/original/file-20220620-26-9u1snj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469640/original/file-20220620-26-9u1snj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469640/original/file-20220620-26-9u1snj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469640/original/file-20220620-26-9u1snj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469640/original/file-20220620-26-9u1snj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The right and left amygdala drive responses to emotional stimuli, real or imagined.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://image.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/amygdala-known-corpus-amygdaloideum-brain-600w-1872650494.jpg">Shutterstock</a></span>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-children-need-protection-from-toxic-stress-at-an-early-age-161528">Why children need protection from toxic stress at an early age</a>
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<h2>Making connections</h2>
<p>The amygdala is particularly responsive to our environment, especially as children when our brains are developing. </p>
<p>Kids exposed to extreme trauma growing up – such as living in a warzone or experiencing physical or emotional abuse – show <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7145742/">altered brain pathways</a> for fear and anger processing, with new brain connections allowing faster and more intense emotional responses. This means that kids may be more “on guard” and <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/B:CCFP.0000006294.88201.68">quick to react</a> to negative emotions.</p>
<p>People who grow up in disadvantaged neighbourhoods may have an <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2021.624705/full">enlarged amygdala</a>, which is related to <a href="https://academic.oup.com/scan/article/5/4/424/1624502">increased fearfulness</a>.
They are more likely to show <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19596123/1">heightened sensitivity</a> to emotional stimuli. Neighbourhood disadvantage and amygdala reactivity are also linked to antisocial child and youth <a href="https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev.soc.28.110601.141114">behaviours</a>. </p>
<p>What is less known is how the environment and social processes of neighbourhoods can shape the developing brain, for better or worse. Positive social processes of neighbourhoods might include shared beliefs about what behaviour is appropriate, community support and trust, and willingness of neighbours to intervene for the common good.</p>
<p>To understand how neighbourhood environments could influence brains, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8777301/">researchers</a> examined 700 children from different neighbourhoods in Michigan, United States. To get accurate information about neighbourhoods, they used census information to rate neighbourhood disadvantage based on employment rates, education, home ownership, and income. </p>
<p>Researchers then used birth records to locate families with twins. Twins are helpful for this kind of research because they live in the same environment so should have the same brain responses. The study included twin families living above and below the poverty line to specifically examine effects of disadvantaged neighbourhoods.</p>
<p>Twins underwent <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30359060/">task-based Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans</a>. They were shown faces for two seconds and matched faces based on whether they were angry, fearful, happy, or neutral (no expression). The MRI scans detected reactivity of the amygdala in their scans in real-time when viewing the faces.</p>
<p>The study also included adults from the same neighbourhoods as the twins. These adult neighbours provided an independent rating of the neighbourhood. There were about four neighbours to each twin family.</p>
<p>Neighbours filled out questionnaires about social processes such as community support (e.g. how willing people are to help their neighbours); informal social order (e.g. what someone in the neighbourhood might do if a child was left home alone at night); and behavioural norms (e.g. how people in the neighbourhood might intervene if a child was doing something dangerous, even if it was not their child). </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/kids-neighborhoods-can-affect-their-developing-brains-a-new-study-finds-184035">Kids' neighborhoods can affect their developing brains, a new study finds</a>
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<h2>Neighbourhood disadvantage, over-active brains</h2>
<p>The study found experiences of neighbourhood disadvantage resulted in over-activity of the right amygdala, with kids from these neighbourhoods being more reactive to facial expressions of anger and fear. </p>
<p>Likewise, if neighbours scored the neighbourhood social processes low and thought neighbours did not look out for one another, kids from these neighbourhoods were more likely to have a highly reactive amygdala response to emotional faces.</p>
<p>However, researchers also found positive neighbourhood social processes could mediate, or lessen, the relationship between neighbourhood disadvantage and amygdala reactivity. </p>
<p>When neighbours said the neighbourhood worked together cooperatively and was supportive – there was no effect of neighbourhood adversity on amygdala reactivity. The kids from these neighbourhoods had the same response to expressions of anger and fear as kids from less disadvantaged neighbourhoods.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469639/original/file-20220620-14-puzn53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="housing commission flats in Melbourne" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469639/original/file-20220620-14-puzn53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469639/original/file-20220620-14-puzn53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469639/original/file-20220620-14-puzn53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469639/original/file-20220620-14-puzn53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469639/original/file-20220620-14-puzn53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469639/original/file-20220620-14-puzn53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469639/original/file-20220620-14-puzn53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">In communities where neighbours report strong social support and interpersonal connections, researchers found less effect on brain reactivity.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://image.shutterstock.com/image-photo/external-view-housing-commission-apartment-600w-1521657638.jpg">Shutterstock</a></span>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/even-mild-covid-can-cause-brain-shrinkage-and-affect-mental-function-new-study-shows-178530">Even mild COVID can cause brain shrinkage and affect mental function, new study shows</a>
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<h2>Social connections matter</h2>
<p>Neighbourhood environments and social connections are critically important for shaping emotional recognition in kid’s brains. This influence can be positive or negative, depending on the social dynamics of the neighbourhood. </p>
<p>This fresh research shows no matter how disadvantaged a neighbourhood is, the actions, attitudes and behaviour of the people who live there are highly important influences on how growing children understand and process threats around them.</p>
<p>Growing up in a positive and connected neighbourhood where people look out for one another and act in the best interests of the community is one of the best things we can do to give our kids a stable start in life. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/pandemic-babies-how-covid-19-has-affected-child-development-155903">Pandemic babies: how COVID-19 has affected child development</a>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This story is part of The Conversation's Breaking the Cycle series, which is about escaping cycles of disadvantage. It is supported by a philanthropic grant from the Paul Ramsay Foundation.</span></em></p>Children who grow up in disadvantaged areas seem to react more strongly to facial expressions showing anger or fear. But social connections between neighbours can help.Sarah Hellewell, Research Fellow, Faculty of Health Sciences, Curtin University, and The Perron Institute for Neurological and Translational Science, Curtin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1830782022-05-19T12:22:50Z2022-05-19T12:22:50ZPandemic babies with developmental delays can be helped to make up for lost social interaction – 5 tips for parents<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464050/original/file-20220518-17-kfq2t0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=22%2C0%2C5059%2C3403&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Children born during the pandemic are at nearly twice the risk for developmental delays.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/teacher-and-students-learning-alphabet-with-digital-royalty-free-image/699084027?adppopup=true">Ariel Skelley / Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Typically, about <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31558576/">1 in 6 children</a> experience a developmental delay. But children born during the pandemic, a 2022 study has found, have <a href="https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/j7kcn">nearly twice the risk</a> of developmental delays in communication and social development compared to babies born prior to the pandemic.</p>
<p>The reason, some researchers believe, is related to <a href="https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/news/babies-born-during-pandemics-first-year-score-slightly-lower-developmental-screening-test">less interaction with other children</a>, among other factors.</p>
<p>Delays in communication can mean a child learns to talk later, talks less or uses gestures like pointing instead of talking. Social developmental delays might be present when a child doesn’t respond to their name when called, doesn’t look at what adults are paying attention to in the environment, or doesn’t play with other children or with trusted adults.</p>
<p>It’s hard to say if children who suffer from these delays can be caught up or if they will require continued services or special education into elementary school and beyond. The more severe the delay, the more likely the child will need ongoing specialized services.</p>
<p>One way to be more certain is to talk to your child’s pediatrician about whether your child is meeting certain developmental benchmarks. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, also recommends that parents contact their state’s <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/actearly/parents/states.html#textlinks">early intervention program</a> and say, “I have concerns about my child’s development, and I would like to have my child evaluated to find out if he/she is eligible for early intervention services.” </p>
<p>In the meantime, parents and early childhood teachers can support language development for children who may suffer from delays by providing rich, responsive interactions and conversations.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=XMQY7N0AAAAJ&hl=en">researcher</a> who specializes in language and literacy skills for young children with learning disabilities, here I offer five evidence-based strategies that parents and teachers of children with pandemic-related developmental delays can use to support the growth of their child’s language skills and later school performance.</p>
<h2>1. Get children talking</h2>
<p>Language is how we share experiences. However, children with developmental delays may not talk very much. Adults can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2019.02.010">create opportunities to talk</a>, which helps children develop the ability to communicate and interact with others.</p>
<p>One way to do this is to create situations in which the child has to talk to get something they want. For example, at home, put a favorite toy or snack in a clear sealed bag or plastic container so the child can see the item but cannot get it themselves without asking for help. At preschool or day care during snack time or free play, provide the student with two choices and have them say which choice they want. For children whose speech is hard to understand, any noise or attempt at talking is a good sign. The important part is that they are trying to talk, not that the words come out perfectly. If the child’s speech is unintelligible, have them point and talk at the same time to show their choice. </p>
<h2>2. Expand on children’s speech</h2>
<p>Providing <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2016.01.015">rich language</a> is critical for supporting the language development of children with developmental delays.</p>
<p>One way to provide rich language is by responding to what the child says and then adding on details or adjectives. For example, if a young child sees a dog and exclaims, “Doggy!”, an adult could expand on that speech by saying, “Yes! There’s a big brown dog.” The adult is acknowledging what the child said and providing more language for the child to hear and respond to while sharing the experience of seeing a dog.</p>
<h2>3. Be a warm and attentive conversation partner</h2>
<p>When adults provide warm, supportive interactions, children go on to have <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0885200616300151?via%3Dihub">better language skills in preschool</a>, better vocabulary and reading ability in first grade, and better mathematics performance in third grade.</p>
<p>Being a supportive partner means <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0271121411426486">following the child’s lead and not always telling the child what to do</a>. For example, play with toys the child chose or enact pretend scenarios the child came up with. During conversation, talk directly to the child about a topic the child chose and take turns talking. Don’t worry about correcting the child or guiding the interaction. It’s OK if you’ve talked about the dog across the street a thousand times. Each interaction builds language skills. Stay positive and engaged.</p>
<h2>4. Share a book</h2>
<p>Shared book reading is a technique where the adult actively involves the child in the storytelling experience. Children who participate in frequent shared book reading have larger vocabularies, use more complex language and have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2018.12.006">better reading comprehension in later grades</a>.</p>
<p>Start by asking open-ended questions like, “What do you think will happen next?” Talk to the child about their real-life experiences similar to the book, like, “Remember when we went to the park? What did we do there?”</p>
<p>Point out words and letters while reading aloud to help children develop their awareness of print. Talk about interesting words in the story and define new words. Children often like to read the same book over and over, so there will be many opportunities to use these strategies during story time. Don’t worry about using them all at once.</p>
<h2>5. Talk about words</h2>
<p>Help children develop a better awareness of the connection between words and how they sound. This is an important skill that <a href="https://lincs.ed.gov/publications/pdf/NELPReport09.pdf">supports reading and writing</a>.</p>
<p>Clap or count syllables in words, such as “cupcake” or “butterfly.” Tell nursery rhymes and have the child say which words rhyme or come up with other words that rhyme. Talk about the sounds you hear at the beginning or end of words, such as the “t” sound in “tiger” or the “m” in “room.” Children are slowly learning that spoken language is made up of words and sounds that can be represented by written letters. This knowledge is the gateway for learning to read and write.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183078/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Abigail A. Allen received a federal grant from the Institute of Education Sciences (R324B200016) to develop a series of sentence writing intervention lessons for young struggling learners (2020-2024).</span></em></p>The COVID-19 pandemic – and the isolation it brought on – deprived many babies of the stimulating experiences they need to develop. Is the damage permanent? A language specialist weighs in.Abigail A. Allen, Associate Professor of Special Education, Clemson UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1830882022-05-17T18:55:58Z2022-05-17T18:55:58ZDenying abortion access has a negative impact on children and families<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463563/original/file-20220517-6205-q66vy6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=57%2C146%2C5183%2C3069&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Abortion-rights demonstrators hold up letters spelling out 'My Choice,' Saturday, May 14, 2022, outside the United States Supreme Court in Washington, D.C.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source"> (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/denying-abortion-access-has-a-negative-impact-on-children-and-families" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-at-stake-as-supreme-court-appears-intent-on-overturning-roe-v-wade-3-essential-reads-182376"><em>Roe vs. Wade</em> Supreme Court proceedings</a> in the United States have put the spotlight on the issue of abortion rights. Limiting access to safe abortions has many consequences, including increases in <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/being-denied-an-abortion-has-lasting-impacts-on-health-and-finances/">poverty, unemployment</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/study-shows-an-abortion-ban-may-lead-to-a-21-increase-in-pregnancy-related-deaths-167610">pregnancy-related deaths</a>. Another key area of impact from restricting abortion access is on family well-being and child development.</p>
<p>As developmental and clinical psychologists, we research how to best support perinatal and child wellness. We are focused on preventing the transmission of risk factors for poor economic, social, physical and mental well-being for parents and children. We are especially concerned about how restricting abortion services will negatively impact children and families.</p>
<h2>Lasting impact on children</h2>
<p>In the 1960s, the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0968-8080(06)27219-7">Prague Study</a> started following the children of 220 parents who were denied an abortion. They were compared to another 220 children whose parents did not seek an abortion. Children whose parents were denied abortion had poorer academic achievement and were less likely to continue to higher education after high school.</p>
<p>In adulthood, the Prague Study found people whose parents were denied abortion reported less job satisfaction, more conflicts at work, fewer friendships and more disappointments in romantic relationships. By age 35, they were more likely to have been <a href="https://doi.org/10.1097/00005053-200210000-00001">psychiatric patients</a> than either their own siblings or a same-age cohort whose parents had not sought an abortion.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman looking at a pregnancy test with her hand over her mouth" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463756/original/file-20220517-22-1pzaut.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463756/original/file-20220517-22-1pzaut.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463756/original/file-20220517-22-1pzaut.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463756/original/file-20220517-22-1pzaut.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463756/original/file-20220517-22-1pzaut.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463756/original/file-20220517-22-1pzaut.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463756/original/file-20220517-22-1pzaut.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Denying abortion access impacts parents, as well as the life outcomes of children who are born both before and after parents could not obtain an abortion.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Research into unintended pregnancies, where parents had a negative attitude towards the pregnancy or did not intend to have a child, support the results of the Prague Study. Unintended offspring have poorer <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00148-014-0530-z">academic achievement and income</a> and are more likely to be involved with the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00148-014-0530-z">criminal justice system</a> and develop <a href="http://doi.org/10.1017/s0033291708004479">depressive and psychotic disorders</a>. </p>
<p>Research at the population level suggests that restricting legal access to abortion negatively impacts the health and development of children. A comprehensive economic analysis indicated that the introduction of anti-abortion laws significantly <a href="http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.512.1701&rep=rep1&type=pdf">increased rates of child maltreatment</a>. Similarly, in the United States, more restrictive abortion policies at the state level are associated with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/07399332.2013.841699">poorer infant and child well-being</a> across health, poverty and academic outcomes.</p>
<p>Adoptees, <a href="https://blog.petrieflom.law.harvard.edu/2022/05/13/organizing-and-activism-of-adopted-and-displaced-people/">many of whom are pro-choice</a>, are also important voices to listen to when considering the impacts of adoption on children and families. Many children who are adopted face long-term barriers to well-being including <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/1602410">emotional, behavioural and academic challenges</a>. </p>
<h2>Impact on existing children</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6874-13-29">One-third</a> of people seeking abortions report that one of their reasons for seeking an abortion is that a new child would negatively affect their ability to care for their current children. The <a href="https://www.ansirh.org/research/ongoing/turnaway-study">Turnaway Study</a> examined how being denied an abortion affects existing children in the family.</p>
<p>The Turnaway Study is the most exhaustive study on the impact of abortion to date. The study <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.whi.2013.10.004">recruited</a> participants in 21 U.S. states between 2008 and 2010, following them for five years. Researchers compared 231 participants who were denied an abortion to 725 who received an abortion.</p>
<p>The study found that when a parent was denied an abortion, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpeds.2018.09.026">existing children under five years old</a> were less likely to have achieved developmental milestones. These milestones included skills of daily living appropriate for the child’s age, such as getting dressed, going to the bathroom, brushing teeth and feeding themselves. There were no delays in language, social, emotional and motor skills. Existing children of parents who were denied an abortion were also more likely to experience poverty-related stress.</p>
<h2>Poverty-related stress affects children</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man sitting at a table looking at mail, with a child beside him, and a woman behind him holding another child." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463696/original/file-20220517-23-5umack.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463696/original/file-20220517-23-5umack.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463696/original/file-20220517-23-5umack.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463696/original/file-20220517-23-5umack.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463696/original/file-20220517-23-5umack.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463696/original/file-20220517-23-5umack.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463696/original/file-20220517-23-5umack.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Parents denied abortions are more likely to be single parents, live in poverty and receive public assistance.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Being denied an abortion increases poverty-related stress for parents. Limited abortion access is linked with lower <a href="https://doi.org/10.1363/3900607">academic success</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0248638">employment</a>. Parents denied abortions are more likely to <a href="https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2017.304247">be single parents, live in poverty and receive public assistance</a>. A working paper on economic consequences found that these effects persist <a href="https://doi.org/10.3386/w26662">for years after birth</a>. This can contribute to the transmission of negative health and achievement outcomes between generations.</p>
<p>Access to resources is a key determinant of child developmental outcomes. Children in families experiencing poverty-related stress are more likely to have <a href="https://sleepscience.org.br/details/2860/en-US/socioeconomic-status-and-sleep-disturbances-among-pediatric-population--a-continental-systematic-review-of-empirical-research">poor sleep</a> and to suffer from <a href="http://doi.org/10.1097/MOP.0000000000000876">physical illnesses</a>, including injuries, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/caries">dental caries</a> and risk factors for heart disease. Growing up in poverty <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2013.04.026">more than doubles</a> a child’s risk of developing mental health problems. </p>
<p>Poverty-related stress is also linked with lower <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543075003417">academic success</a>, poorer <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0260788">working memory</a> and poorer <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09297049.2021.1879766">cognitive flexibility</a>, which is the brain’s ability to think about multiple things at the same time or adjust thinking based on changing needs or information. Children with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tins.2015.07.003">lower cognitive flexibility</a> can have difficulty adapting their behaviour to new or changing events. </p>
<p>For the existing children in the family, their parents being denied an abortion may also lead to instability, where there are sudden changes in the child’s living conditions. This is concerning since instability has been linked to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.02.048">emotion and behaviour problems</a> in children.</p>
<h2>Abortion access protects child and family well-being</h2>
<p>The benefits of abortion access for parent, family and child well-being are clear. Denying abortion access impacts parents, as well as the life outcomes of children who are born both before and after to parents who could not obtain an abortion. </p>
<p>As abortion access is limited, the consequences at the individual level ripple through society as, on average, people denied abortions and their children are more likely to experience negative economic, social and health effects. The impacts of limited abortion access are worse for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-021-07165-x">groups and communities that experience discrimination and exclusion</a>, such as poor and racialized people. This can increase financial gaps and achievement gaps between groups in society.</p>
<p>Pregnant people are aware of their unique circumstances and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00737-009-0084-3">seek abortions after considering</a> their own needs, the needs of their existing children and the potential child, and their partners. Access to safe abortion services is an essential public health tool to promote the well-being of parents, childless people, children, families and society.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183088/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charlie Rioux receives funding from Research Manitoba and the Children’s Hospital Foundation of Manitoba. She also previously received funding from the Canadian Institute of Health Research and the Fonds de Recherche du Québec - Santé.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Leslie E. Roos receives funding from Canadian Tri-agencies Granting Councils including CIHR, SSHRC, and NSERC as well as support from Children's Research Hospital Institute of Manitoba and Research Manitoba.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lianne Tomfohr-Madsen receives funding from Canadian Tri-agencies Granting Councils including CIHR, and SSHRC, as well as support from the Canadian Child Health Clinician Scientist Program. </span></em></p>Restricting abortion access has negative effects on parents, as well as children and families, including increased poverty, unemployment, pregnancy-related deaths and higher health risks in children.Charlie Rioux, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Psychology, University of ManitobaLeslie E. Roos, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, University of ManitobaLianne Tomfohr-Madsen, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, University of CalgaryLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1778752022-05-02T16:17:11Z2022-05-02T16:17:11ZWhy children learn how to say ‘spoon’ before ‘sky’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458709/original/file-20220419-19828-hzx4t2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C333%2C7461%2C4472&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Children’s physical experiences help them learn new words</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Pexels/Andrea Piacquadio)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>For adults, communicating in our first language feels easy and natural. Yet learning language is a complex process that is influenced by several factors. </p>
<p>When young children are beginning to learn language, some influences, such as the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797617742725">amount of speech a child hears</a> and the amount of time they spend in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797617742725">back-and-forth language interactions</a> with others, have what may appear to be obvious connections to language learning. Perhaps less obvious is that children’s <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2012.06.016">own physical experiences</a> with their environment help them learn new words.</p>
<p>In new research in the cognitive sciences, we investigated how this is the case by considering how children learn words that refer to something you can touch, grasp and interact with. We asked parents to rate how easily a child can physically interact with the object, idea or experience that a word refers to. We found <a href="https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-022-01798-4">words that refer to objects that are easy for children to interact with are also words that are learned at an earlier age</a>. </p>
<h2>Spoon: Something you touch</h2>
<p>For instance, a word like <em>spoon</em> is usually learned earlier than a word like <em>sky</em>. And this relationship remains even when we consider other things that can affect word learning, like how common a word is in everyday language. </p>
<p>Words like <em>spoon</em> and <em>sky</em> are both relevant to everyday life, and so children will probably hear those words quite early in their development. One difference between them is that <em>spoon</em> refers to something you can touch, grasp and interact with, whereas <em>sky</em> does not. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="a child seen picking up a spoon." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459141/original/file-20220421-21-2kndr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459141/original/file-20220421-21-2kndr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459141/original/file-20220421-21-2kndr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459141/original/file-20220421-21-2kndr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459141/original/file-20220421-21-2kndr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459141/original/file-20220421-21-2kndr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459141/original/file-20220421-21-2kndr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">If you can hold something, this helps understand what it is.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Why physical experience helps</h2>
<p>Our findings agree with those of studies where babies and toddlers wore small head-mounted body cameras to record their interactions with objects. Those studies show that the children’s own physical experience helps them learn new words. </p>
<p>For instance, in one study researchers found that 18-month-old <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797617742725">toddlers were more likely to learn the name of a new object when they held that object</a>, and less likely to learn the name if their parent held the new object. Another study found that <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/desc.12816">15-month-olds who spent more time manipulating new objects had learned more nouns by the time they were 21 months old</a>. </p>
<p>Body cameras allow researchers to see the environment from a child’s point of view. This gives researchers clues as to why it is easier for children to learn the names of objects they get to touch and hold. At any given time, there are many different objects in a child’s vision. When a parent names an object in the environment, a child must figure out which object the parent is talking about. But when a child is holding or touching a specific object, that object is much closer to them and fills more of their vision, making it easier for them to connect the word the parent has used with the object they see.</p>
<h2>Child interactions</h2>
<p>Physical experience is also related to how children use and process language. Words like <em>spoon</em> that refer to objects that are easy for a child to interact with are <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00317">named faster by children as young as six years old</a>. This is probably because the child’s physical experience makes it easier to connect a word’s meaning with the written letters or spoken sounds of the word itself, a process that happens every time we read or hear a word. </p>
<p>A more recent study also found words that refer to objects that are easy to interact with were easier to read and recognize for children in grades 2 and 4. Interestingly, the researchers also found that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-021-10238-2">children who had more screen time each day were less likely to show this benefit: they were not as fast or accurate when recognizing words that refer to easy-to-interact-with objects</a>. This is because increased screen time may reduce the quantity and quality of physical experiences that children have with objects in their environment.</p>
<h2>Play-and-tell matters</h2>
<p>Word learning is easier when a child can interact with an object while hearing that object’s name, rather than seeing the object presented by a parent or on a screen. This isn’t possible for all objects, and children will learn the words for concepts they can’t touch, like <em>sky</em>, even without physical interaction. But this research shows that it can be helpful to give children opportunities to touch and feel the things they are learning the words for, as long as it is safe to do so. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/writing-and-reading-starts-with-childrens-hands-on-play-125182">Writing and reading starts with children's hands-on play</a>
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<p>When children get to touch, grasp and interact with things <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/infa.12289">in their environment they develop their motor skills</a>. By studying how children learn different sorts of words, our research exemplifies the ways that physical experiences are not just important to a child’s motor learning, but also to their word learning. </p>
<p>This means that giving children more opportunities to physically interact with their actual, rather than virtual, environment is good for their bodies and for their brains.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/177875/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emiko Muraki receives funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Penny Pexman receives funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and also from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). </span></em></p>Children may hear a lot of words when sitting in front of or interacting with screens, but to learn language children need to interact with physical objects.Emiko Muraki, PhD Candidate, Brain & Cognitive Science, University of CalgaryPenny Pexman, Professor of Psychology, University of CalgaryLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1756252022-02-17T13:12:05Z2022-02-17T13:12:05ZWant better child care? Invest in entrepreneurial training for child care workers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445730/original/file-20220210-1970-unavhe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=20%2C0%2C6689%2C4476&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Entrepreneurial leadership values expertise from providers, educators and parents. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/license/886934186?adppopup=true"> SDI Productions/E+ via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Christine Heer – a veteran preschool teacher – had long harbored a passion to run a nature-based preschool. So in 2015 she opened <a href="https://www.growbloomandthrive.com/">Sprouts Farm and Forest Kindergarten</a> in central Massachusetts.</p>
<p>Diana Stinson did something similar in 2018 when she co-founded <a href="https://www.massaudubon.org/get-outdoors/wildlife-sanctuaries/long-pasture/programs-classes-activities/nature-preschool">Nature Explorers Preschool</a>, which is housed on a wildlife sanctuary on Cape Cod.</p>
<p>Five months into the COVID-19 pandemic, <a href="https://blogs.umb.edu/earlyed/2020/07/08/building-community/">Dottie Williams</a>, a Boston child care provider, was invited to testify before Massachusetts lawmakers. She spoke about how child care providers were <a href="https://www.salemnews.com/news/state_news/covid-19-forcing-innovation-at-child-care-centers/article_b608ff39-c7ef-5e78-b7fa-20f7c3b11305.html">helping children adapt</a> during the pandemic.</p>
<p>In the fall of 2021, as very young children exhibited anxiety about playing with other children without a mask – something they had previously been taught was unsafe – <a href="https://blogs.umb.edu/earlyed/2021/11/08/teaching-young-children-about-post-pandemic-social-interaction/">Emilee Johnson</a> wrote a <a href="https://blogs.umb.edu/earlyed/2021/11/08/teaching-young-children-about-post-pandemic-social-interaction/">children’s book</a> about <a href="https://eyeonearlyeducation.org/2021/07/27/a-book-for-young-children-on-the-pandemics-new-normal/">how to stay safe</a>.</p>
<p>All of these early educators have one thing in common – they were all trained in entrepreneurial leadership.</p>
<h2>A different kind of leadership</h2>
<p>As a researcher who studies <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=58-4rKcAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra">how to develop effective leadership skills among early childhood educators</a>, I know that <a href="https://www.tcpress.com/leading-for-change-in-early-care-and-education-9780807758359">entrepreneurial leadership training</a> is not like other kinds of leadership training. For instance, it doesn’t emphasize hierarchy. Rather than elevate the expertise of administrators and authorities, it recognizes the expertise of those who work directly with children – that is, the child care providers, educators and parents. </p>
<p>When directors and administrators of early learning centers are trained in entrepreneurial leadership, <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED593623.pdf">innovation becomes a bigger part</a> of what they do. They build relationships that <a href="https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/opre/ccl-report-summary-508_qc.pdf">value “curiosity, questions, and reflections about current practices,”</a> according to a 2021 federal report. Staff members contribute ideas to improve teaching practices, enhance program quality, implement strategies for improving workplace culture, promote equity and welcome feedback from parents. </p>
<h2>Benefits to children</h2>
<p>Children benefit when early educators are trained in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s40723-022-00095-z">entrepreneurial leadership</a>, research <a href="https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/opre/understanding-leadership-ECE-march-2021.pdf">shows</a>. This is largely because classroom quality is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02568543.2012.739589">connected to</a> the improved workplace culture, parental engagement and support for experimentation – all things brought about by entrepreneurial leadership. The quality of leadership and the organizational climate set by early educational leaders are “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02568540709594621">critical variables</a>” for the quality of early education.</p>
<p>Entrepreneurial leadership training transforms how early educators think. It leads them to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-017-0871-9">redefine leadership</a>. They begin to see leadership as collaborative and purpose-driven rather than hierarchical.</p>
<p>Some early educators use their new skills and confidence to open new schools, as Stinson and Heer did. Some develop new resources for educators, as Johnson did. Some become highly effective advocates, as Williams has. But most early educators trained in this form of leadership return to their programs to make <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s40723-022-00095-z">seemingly small but powerful changes</a> that result in better care and education for children.</p>
<h2>Opportunities limited</h2>
<p>Despite the positive effects of entrepreneurial leadership training, it’s not widely available. One survey found only <a href="https://goffinstrategygroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/2021-Early-Care-and-Education-Leadership-Development-Compendium.pdf">35 leadership programs</a> for early educators in the entire country. Of those, 32 focus on the “positional responsibilities” of directors and administrators.</p>
<p>As the pandemic continues to <a href="https://www.tbf.org/news-and-insights/reports/2021/dec/when-the-bough-breaks-20211213">disrupt early care and education programs</a>, with <a href="https://edpolicy.umich.edu/sites/epi/files/uploads/BPS_ECE_COVID_Policy_Brief.pdf">reduced student enrollment</a> and teachers <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/09/19/childcare-workers-quit/">leaving the profession</a> because of fears of exposure to COVID-19, resources must be used wisely. Investing in entrepreneurial leadership training for early educators is one way to make sure that happens.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anne Douglass receives funding from the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care, and the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation at the Administration for Children and Families in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, as well as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and The Boston Foundation.
Anne Douglass designs, implements, and evaluates leadership development programs in the early care and education sector.
</span></em></p>When early childhood education providers become more entrepreneurial, the quality of their programs improves, research shows.Anne Douglass, Professor of Early Care and Education Leadership, Policy, and Practice, UMass BostonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1761322022-02-10T20:24:26Z2022-02-10T20:24:26ZChildhood adversity is a ‘cause of causes’ of adult illnesses and mental health problems<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443792/original/file-20220201-22-127qj18.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=16%2C663%2C4497%2C2948&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">One child in three is physically or sexually abused or witnesses violence between adults in their home. Other adversities including emotional neglect, living in an unsafe neighbourhood or experiencing prejudice and bullying are even more common.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(iStock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 175px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/childhood-adversity-is-a--cause-of-causes--of-adult-illnesses-and-mental-health-problems" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Every day we are exposed to things like pollution and ultraviolet light which increase our risk of illness. Many people take on additional risks — due to tobacco smoke, fast food or alcohol, for example. </p>
<p>But there is a less-recogized exposure that is even more common than smoking and increases the risk of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1161/cir.0000000000000536">heart disease, diabetes</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/cncr.24372">cancer</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/s0749-3797(98)00017-8">chronic lung diseases</a>, <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.2105%2FAJPH.2007.131599">sexually transmitted infections</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2009.1091">chronic pain</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.131792">mental illness</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2009.06.021">reduces one’s life by as much as 20 years</a>. </p>
<p>This public health hazard that hides in plain sight is childhood adversity: experiences like physical abuse, sexual abuse and neglect.</p>
<h2>Childhood adversity is common</h2>
<p>In Canada, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.131792">one child in three is physically or sexually abused or witnesses violence between adults in their home</a>. Other adversities such as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2015.02.001">emotional neglect, living in an unsafe neighbourhood or experiencing prejudice and bullying</a> are even more common. Studies in the United States show about <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2014.09.006">60 per cent of children and teenagers have these adverse childhood experiences</a>, or ACEs. The more severe the exposure, the greater the health risk. </p>
<p>The reason that ACEs contribute to so many diseases is that they are associated with many things that trigger other causes of disease. Think of ACEs as a “cause of causes.”</p>
<h2>Health risk behaviours and physiological changes</h2>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445491/original/file-20220209-1970-18lmi5a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Illustration of two people standing at a starting line. One lane is clear while the other has a pitfall." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445491/original/file-20220209-1970-18lmi5a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445491/original/file-20220209-1970-18lmi5a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445491/original/file-20220209-1970-18lmi5a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445491/original/file-20220209-1970-18lmi5a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445491/original/file-20220209-1970-18lmi5a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445491/original/file-20220209-1970-18lmi5a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445491/original/file-20220209-1970-18lmi5a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Adverse childhood events may contribute to cascading health risks over a lifetime.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As kids who have had adverse experiences grow up, they are more likely to <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.jadohealth.2007.08.029">smoke</a>, to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/acer.12053">drink excessively</a> and to <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.jaac.2016.05.010">use nonprescription drugs</a>. They are more likely to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2016.11.023">engage in risky sexual activities</a> and to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-93242-4">become obese</a>. Not all kids with ACEs take on risky activities, of course, but enough to contribute to ACEs’ health consequences.</p>
<p>Growing up in conditions that are consistently frightening or stressful affects the biology of developing bodies, <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24426793/">especially the development of the systems that regulate our reactions to threats</a>, from predators to viruses. ACEs are even associated with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/mp.2012.32">changes in our chromosomes</a> that are linked to early mortality. </p>
<h2>Interpersonal and psychological effects</h2>
<p>As psychiatrists for adults who experience physical and mental illness in combination, our patients often tell us about the personal impact of ACEs. One man said he did not “have even the slightest shadow of a doubt that a loss of human connection is the most substantial negative impact” of these experiences. The health costs of human disconnection are profound. Indeed, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1000316">lacking interpersonal support may hasten mortality as much or more than smoking, excessive drinking, inactivity, obesity or untreated high blood pressure</a>. </p>
<p>The psychological effects of ACEs may be more obvious and can include fearful expectations, a conviction that one is unworthy of love or protection, unregulated anger or shame and discombobulating memories of bad events. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445498/original/file-20220209-25-rl380b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Illustration of five red hot-air balloons rising into the air, with one held back by a large rock tied to it." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445498/original/file-20220209-25-rl380b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445498/original/file-20220209-25-rl380b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445498/original/file-20220209-25-rl380b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445498/original/file-20220209-25-rl380b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445498/original/file-20220209-25-rl380b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445498/original/file-20220209-25-rl380b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445498/original/file-20220209-25-rl380b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">ACEs greatly increase the risk of depression, anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder and addictions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It greatly increases the risk of depression, anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder and addictions. The one in three adults who experienced childhood sexual or physical abuse or witnessed interpersonal violence at home <a href="https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.131792">have at least twice the incidence of these disorders</a> compared to others.</p>
<p>And then the dominoes fall: mental illness greatly increases the likelihood, burden and consequences of physical illness. To give just one example, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/s0006-3223(03)00111-2">in the months after experiencing a heart attack, those who are depressed are several times more likely to die</a>.
So, we see that ACEs don’t only lead to one kind of trouble, but to many. </p>
<h2>Social determinants of health</h2>
<p>Finally, the burden of illness is not distributed fairly. Maintaining health is more challenging for those who are disadvantaged by poverty, lack of education, language barriers, discrimination and living with the continuing systemic harms of colonization and multi-generational trauma.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445493/original/file-20220209-19735-1q36hq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Illustration of a child climbing up one side of a pyramid in steady steps, helped by an adult. On the other side, another child climbs over a substance-using parent and struggles to find a route up the pyramid." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445493/original/file-20220209-19735-1q36hq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445493/original/file-20220209-19735-1q36hq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445493/original/file-20220209-19735-1q36hq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445493/original/file-20220209-19735-1q36hq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445493/original/file-20220209-19735-1q36hq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=655&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445493/original/file-20220209-19735-1q36hq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=655&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445493/original/file-20220209-19735-1q36hq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=655&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Childhood trauma has a complex relationship with social determinants of health.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Childhood trauma has a complex relationship with these social determinants of health. On one hand, ACEs are not unique to marginalized groups and can occur across all strata of society. On the other hand, the risk of experiencing ACEs may be greater in some groups and the consequences of ACEs may multiply as social forces interact. </p>
<p>For example, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/s0749-3797(99)00084-7">childhood trauma is strongly associated with behaviours that increase the risk of sexually transmitted infections</a>. About <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psym.2014.10.006">half of the people living with HIV have experienced childhood abuse</a>. HIV is also more common in groups that face discrimination, including <a href="https://www.catie.ca/the-epidemiology-of-hiv-in-canada">men who have sex with men, people who use injectable drugs, Indigenous people</a> and <a href="https://www.ohtn.on.ca/research-portals/priority-populations/african-caribbean-and-black-communities/">immigrants from countries in which HIV is endemic</a>. </p>
<p>Intersecting components of personal experience and identity attract stigma and discrimination, which in turn influences mental health, self-care and one’s ability to navigate a healthcare system that has multiple barriers and gaps. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psym.2014.10.006">It is a complex web and ACEs contribute to this complexity</a>.</p>
<h2>A cause of causes</h2>
<p>Events that occur in childhood may contribute to cascading health risks over one’s lifetime. There are so many paths to illness interacting with one another over decades and compromising health in so many ways, that it should be no surprise that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/s2468-2667(21)00237-1">childhood adversity is a profound public health problem</a>. </p>
<p>It is time that we, as a society, recognized ACEs as the malignant force that they are. Those affected need to be treated with compassion and also with awareness of the long-lasting effects of early adversity on health. Research that helps us understand the lifelong impact of ACEs could help guide prevention of chronic illnesses and mental health issues in the many people who experience adversity during childhood.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176132/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert Maunder receives funding from Sinai Health and the University of Toronto as Chair of Health and Behaviour at Sinai Health and receives royalties from the University of Toronto Press for Damaged: Childhood Adversity, Adult Illness, and the Need for a Health Care Revolution.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jon Hunter receives funding from Sinai Health and is The Pencer Family Chair in Applied General Psychiatry at Sinai Health. He receives royalties from the University of Toronto Press for Damaged: Childhood Adversity, Adult Illness, and the Need for a Health Care Revolution. </span></em></p>One in three children experiences abuse or neglect. These adverse events increase lifelong risks for chronic diseases and mental health issues, creating a public health hazard hiding in plain sight.Robert Maunder, Professor of Psychiatry, University of TorontoJon Hunter, Professor of Psychiatry, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1638632021-10-06T16:30:18Z2021-10-06T16:30:18ZUnderstanding the early-life origins of suicide: Vulnerability may begin even before birth<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/424824/original/file-20211005-19-1cjc5q8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=219%2C323%2C4365%2C3120&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Vulnerability to suicide may build up throughout the course of life, and may start with events occurring in the perinatal period and infancy.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Suicide is a tragic event. Unfortunately, <a href="https://www.who.int/news/item/09-09-2019-suicide-one-person-dies-every-40-seconds">every 40 seconds, a person dies by suicide</a>. Beyond the premature loss of an individual’s life, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/sltb.12450">more that 100 people may be affected</a> by each suicide, including family, friends and community members. </p>
<p>People considering their own death have often gone through long periods of intense suffering and internal struggles. They may have endured mental illness and experienced a range of adverse life events. Helping people suffering from a mental disorder and/or going through a difficult time is therefore of the utmost importance to preventing suicide. </p>
<p>However, evidence from research conducted in the past two decades has highlighted that suicide is not only the result of such contributing factors around the time of death. Instead, vulnerability to suicide may build up throughout the course of life. It may start with events occurring very early in life, in the perinatal period and infancy, that have long-lasting influences on suicide in adulthood.</p>
<h2>The developmental origins of health and diseases</h2>
<p>In the 1990s, British epidemiologist David Barker noticed that children born with low birth weight (less than 2.5 kilograms) or preterm (before 37 weeks) were more likely to develop chronic conditions such as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMra0708473">cardiovascular or metabolic diseases</a> as adults. These observations served as the foundation of the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/inthealth/ihy006">developmental origins of health and diseases</a> (or DOHaD) hypothesis. </p>
<p>The DOHaD hypothesis suggests that exposure to environmental influences during the critical period of fetal development could have significant consequences on an individual’s short- and long-term health. This knowledge promoted <a href="http://www.project-earlynutrition.eu/eneu/">early-life interventions</a> such as prenatal and infant nutrition to improve long-term outcomes. It also supported <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/preterm-birth">guidelines to promote quality care</a> before, between and during pregnancies.</p>
<p>As such, the DOHaD hypothesis has increased scientific interest in understanding how early-life events influence the risk of other health problems, including suicide.</p>
<h2>Early-life origins of suicide</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Illustration of a fetus and a network of interconnected dots." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/424649/original/file-20211005-19-rez0dc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/424649/original/file-20211005-19-rez0dc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424649/original/file-20211005-19-rez0dc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424649/original/file-20211005-19-rez0dc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424649/original/file-20211005-19-rez0dc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424649/original/file-20211005-19-rez0dc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424649/original/file-20211005-19-rez0dc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">When the fetus is exposed to adversity, it may adapt to survive a harsh environment in utero.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Pixabay/Canva)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As researchers with the <a href="http://www.lifespanproject.net/">LIFESPAN research project</a>, our goal is to better understand whether early-life factors influence the risk of suicide later in life, and how. If early life factors are associated with suicide, suicide prevention strategies need to be implemented early in life.</p>
<p>Within the LIFESPAN project, we recently conducted a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(19)30077-X">meta-analysis</a> looking at 42 articles from 21 longitudinal cohort studies from Europe, North America, South America and Asia. It examined associations of 14 early-life factors in the prenatal and perinatal periods — including low birth weight, obstetric complications, impoverished socio-economic conditions of the family at childbirth and young parental age — with later suicide. </p>
<p>Out of the 14 factors investigated, seven were associated with suicide in adulthood, providing support for the DOHaD hypothesis. The strongest early-life influences on later suicide were parental characteristics such as low parental education, low family socio-economic conditions and young maternal age, as well as restricted fetal growth, including <a href="https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.2021.15">low birth weight</a>.</p>
<p>For example, researchers found that children born with a lower birth weight or <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyab038">who were premature</a> were more likely to die by suicide than children born with normal birth weight. They also found that children of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(04)17099-2">teenage parents</a> were more likely to die by suicide than children of older parents, and that children born to parents with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwt014">lower levels of education</a> were more likely to die by suicide than children born to parents with higher levels of education. </p>
<p>It is important to note that these are epidemiological findings that should not be directly applied to the single individual, but rather they should be applied to the population. We cannot consider a prematurely born baby as being at risk of suicide, but in a given population, babies born prematurely are, on average, at higher risk of dying by suicide than children born at term.</p>
<h2>How early-life risk factors increase suicide risk</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Illustration of a person's silhouette in a sad posture" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/424672/original/file-20211005-23-1wm6y6k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/424672/original/file-20211005-23-1wm6y6k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424672/original/file-20211005-23-1wm6y6k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424672/original/file-20211005-23-1wm6y6k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424672/original/file-20211005-23-1wm6y6k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424672/original/file-20211005-23-1wm6y6k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424672/original/file-20211005-23-1wm6y6k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">If early life factors are associated with suicide, suicide prevention strategies need to be implemented early in life.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Pixabay)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>An important followup question is to understand <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291720002974">why factors occurring very early in life may influence behaviour happening decades later</a>. A first theory implicates social mechanisms. Socio-economic factors (such as poverty or lower education levels) are key determinants of health and tend to be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s13524-012-0120-1">transmitted from one generation to another</a>. </p>
<p>Children born to a family with low financial resources may have restricted access to quality education, health care and life opportunities. This may increase their chances of being confronted with financial and social problems in adulthood, which may in turn increase suicide risk. In other words, social and economic problems that increase suicide risk in adulthood may be, in part, the continuation of the socioeconomic conditions of the family into which a child was born. </p>
<p>This is also true for non-monetary indicators of socio-economic position, such as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716217729471">parental education</a>. Parents who are young and less educated may not have the material and emotional resources to provide their children with the best start in life. Providing resources to young parents from low socio-economic conditions may therefore be an opportunity to improve their child’s health in adulthood, and consequently decreasing suicide risk.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/424825/original/file-20211005-17-1ojeeii.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Illustration of a blue human silhouette with clouds and rain in its head" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/424825/original/file-20211005-17-1ojeeii.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/424825/original/file-20211005-17-1ojeeii.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=799&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424825/original/file-20211005-17-1ojeeii.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=799&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424825/original/file-20211005-17-1ojeeii.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=799&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424825/original/file-20211005-17-1ojeeii.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1004&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424825/original/file-20211005-17-1ojeeii.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1004&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424825/original/file-20211005-17-1ojeeii.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1004&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The capacity to cope with life stress, also known as resilience, is a key protective factor for suicide and mental health problems in general.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A second theory implicates <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2023598118">brain development</a>. The DOHaD hypothesis states that when the fetus is exposed to adversity, it reacts with adaptations to survive a harsh environment in utero. These adaptations may result in impairments in brain development, which are in turn associated with decreased cognitive skills that may further reduce a person’s capacity to deal with stressful events later in life. The capacity to cope with life stress, also known as resilience, is a key protective factor for suicide and mental health problems in general. </p>
<p>Reducing risk factors that may determine <a href="https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMra0708473">low birth weight or fetal suffering</a>, such as poor nutrition, infections, exposure to chemicals or hormonal perturbations, is important for the health of the offspring. However, interventions to boost resilience among children who have experienced adversity during the fetal period may also be a promising avenue for preventing later problems, including suicide.</p>
<h2>Suicide prevention from an early-life perspective</h2>
<p>Early prevention is universally recognized as a leading way to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2017-3174">reduce health problems</a> while <a href="https://heckmanequation.org/resource/invest-in-early-childhood-development-reduce-deficits-strengthen-the-economy/">minimizing societal costs</a>. Early prevention often means removing or reducing risk factors in a population before a health problem manifests. </p>
<p>In this perspective, research on the early-life origins of suicide invites us to integrate interventions at the individual level with prevention at the population level. It supports the need to think about suicide prevention as a long-term, rather than uniquely a short-term, endeavour with the goal of reducing vulnerability to suicide during the life course. </p>
<p>Public health policy providing the best environment for children to grow up may have the potential to build resilience and reduce the long-term vulnerability to suicide.</p>
<p><em>If you or someone you know is thinking about suicide, call 911 for emergency services. For support, call Canada Suicide Prevention Service at 1-866-277-3553 (from Québec) or 1-833-456-4566 (other provinces), or send a text to 45645. Visit <a href="https://www.crisisservicescanada.ca/en/">Crisis Services Canada</a> for more resources.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/163863/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement no. 793396 (awarded to Massimiliano Orri).
Massimiliano Orri is affiliated with the Bordeaux Population Health Research Centre, INSERM U1219, University of Bordeaux</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marie-Claude Geoffroy does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Early life influences have been linked to higher risk of suicide later in life. Reducing those risks, and boosting resilience in children exposed to them, may help reduce suicide rates.Massimiliano Orri, Assistant Professor, McGill Group for Suicide Studies, Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, McGill UniversityMarie-Claude Geoffroy, Assistant Professor, Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology and Canada Research Chair in Youth Suicide Prevention, McGill UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1609682021-06-03T15:19:46Z2021-06-03T15:19:46ZNew cross-Canada research highlights an early childhood educator recruitment crisis<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403422/original/file-20210528-18-r14zhy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C385%2C4589%2C2511&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In expanding early learning and care, Canada must addresses a current crisis is retaining and recruiting educators. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As Canada emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic, early education is key to the recovery of not just children and families, but of our social economy.</p>
<p>Children have endured <a href="https://www.directrelief.org/2021/01/growing-up-in-the-midst-of-a-pandemic-how-covid-is-affecting-childrens-development/">learning delays</a> and many have seen <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00787-021-01744-3">worsening mental health</a>. The pandemic has also rocked an early childhood sector that was already unstable and uneven. We must do better. </p>
<p>The newly released <a href="http://ecereport.ca/en/">Early Childhood Education Report 2020</a>
monitors quality and changes in early child education across Canada, and suggests critical issues to consider. The report is produced by the <a href="https://www.oise.utoronto.ca/atkinson/Main/index.html">Atkinson Centre</a>, a research centre based at the University of Toronto that uses <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgDiMqVuMEA">best available evidence</a> on early child development to inform public policy.</p>
<p>The report evaluates quality based on analyzing data across all 13 Canadian provinces and territories <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7y1VIDTJiQ">in five equally weighted categories</a>. It examines how early childhood education services are integrated across ministries, funding in ratio to provincial or territorial budgets, access, learning environments and how governments are being held accountable for policy decisions.</p>
<p>The recent historical <a href="https://www.budget.gc.ca/2021/home-accueil-en.html">federal 2021 budget</a> announcement promised over <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/news/2021/04/budget-2021-a-canada-wide-early-learning-and-child-care-plan.html">$30 billion dollars towards early learning and child care</a> with a vow to increase access and drastically reduce costs.
It also proposes $2.5 billion over five years to build long-term investments in Indigenous-led early learning programming that parallels the government’s commitment to provinces and territories.</p>
<p>However, as heard in all budget announcements, these are funding and aspirational goals. The challenge lies in bilateral negotiations that successfully support each jurisdiction’s unique needs and ongoing initiatives. We must be careful not to take shortcuts.</p>
<p>Program quality must develop along with the growth of spaces and the capacity to offer more affordable parent fees. This will require using public infrastructure including school boards to expand access to early childhood programs, and a robust workforce strategy that addresses a current educator recruitment and retention crisis. </p>
<h2>A comparative look at provinces, territories</h2>
<p>The Early Childhood Education Report 2020 is the fourth edition capturing the impact of the <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/early-learning-child-care-agreement/agreements-provinces-territories.html">2017-20 early learning and child care bilateral agreements</a>. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/programs/early-learning-child-care/reports/2017-multilateral-framework.html">2017 Multilateral Early Learning and Child Care Framework</a> represented the first time in a decade that the federal government brought attention to early education, followed a year later by the <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/programs/indigenous-early-learning/2018-framework.html">Indigenous Early Learning and Child Care Framework</a>. </p>
<p>These frameworks set the groundwork for provincial or territorial governments to strive towards a common goal to expand access, affordability and inclusion. </p>
<h2>Uneven access, curriculum</h2>
<p>Across the country, there are both similarities and stark differences in how early learning and care is run.</p>
<p>For example, 75 per cent of two- to four-year-olds <a href="http://ecereport.ca/en/profiles/prince-edward-island/">in P.E.I.</a> have access to regulated early learning programs, compared to only 27 per cent in <a href="http://ecereport.ca/en/profiles/saskatchewan/">Saskatchewan</a>. </p>
<p>The inclusion of children with <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sJCz_00Ww4">special needs</a> in early learning programs that receive public dollars are only mandatory in <a href="http://ecereport.ca/en/resources/charts-graphs/overview/jurisdictions-where-public-funding-for-child-care-is-conditional/">three regions</a>; Alberta (within early childhood services programs that serve children aged three and up with exceptionalities, including kindergarten), P.E.I. (within publicly managed early years centres: these must meet higher quality standards and employ all certified staff) and Manitoba.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/child-care-after-the-coronavirus-pandemic-should-be-more-inclusive-of-children-with-disabilities-141172">Child care after the coronavirus pandemic should be more inclusive of children with disabilities</a>
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<p>In 2011, we reported only eight provinces or territories with a curriculum framework in place to guide educator practice. Our report this year demonstrates that now all 13 jurisdictions have a curriculum framework, however, it’s only mandated in P.E.I., Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Québec, Ontario, Manitoba and the Northwest Territories.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Children play with bubbles and blocks." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403425/original/file-20210528-21-1ef4xpm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403425/original/file-20210528-21-1ef4xpm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403425/original/file-20210528-21-1ef4xpm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403425/original/file-20210528-21-1ef4xpm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403425/original/file-20210528-21-1ef4xpm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403425/original/file-20210528-21-1ef4xpm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403425/original/file-20210528-21-1ef4xpm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">There are both similarities and stark differences in what we see in early learning and care across the country.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Pexels)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Educator qualifications, salaries</h2>
<p>The qualifications of educators vary greatly across the country, as does the ratio of qualified to unqualified staff required in programs. No jurisdiction in Canada requires that all staff be qualified. <a href="http://ecereport.ca/en/profiles/alberta/">Alberta</a> only requires one in three staff to be qualified for preschool children. </p>
<p><a href="http://ecereport.ca/en/resources/charts-graphs/overview/ece-salaries-as-a-percent-of-teacher-salaries/">Salaries of early childhood educators</a> vary across the country. Yet they remain stagnant while related professions <a href="https://nationalpost.com/news/elementary-teachers-get-salary-benefits-boosts-in-tentative-contract-deal">such as teachers</a> have enjoyed salary increases. Low and stagnant wages contribute to country-wide shortages in early childhood educators with many <a href="https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/aeceo/pages/2614/attachments/original/1621392971/Forgotten_on_the_frontline.pdf?1621392971">leaving the sector</a>. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/canadas-covid-19-child-care-plan-must-start-with-investing-in-early-childhood-educators-157553">Canada's COVID-19 child-care plan must start with investing in early childhood educators</a>
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<p>In some places, workforce shortages have led governments to reduce qualification requirements. Alberta no longer <a href="https://aecea.ca/child-care-accreditation-cancellation">administers the child care accreditation system</a>, while Ontario has tabled <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/page/strengthening-early-years-and-child-care-ontario-2020-report">legislative revisions</a> that would allow people to work with children four years and older who are not certified in early education.</p>
<h2>Small federal investments matter</h2>
<p>The 2017 federal funding prioritized access, quality and inclusion, and aimed to add <a href="https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/government-of-canada-on-track-to-deliver-on-the-creation-of-up-to-40-000-more-affordable-child-care-spaces-870836736.html">40,000 spaces</a> for children zero to five across the country. We were able to report an addition of over 100,000 new spaces current to March 31, 2020, however, how the pandemic affected access is not yet clear. Many programs have collapsed under the financial stress brought on by COVID-19.</p>
<p>Overall funding allocation to early learning has seen an almost two-fold increase since the release of the <a href="http://ecereport.ca/en/early-years-studies/early-years-study-3-2011/">first edition</a> of our report to over $14 billion in 2020 from from over $7 billion in 2011. </p>
<p>A 25 per cent increase in overall funding was seen just since 2017, with provinces and territories increasing funding spurred by federal interest and investment. This is a noted difference of only nine per cent increase <a href="http://ecereport.ca/en/early-years-studies/2014/">between 2014</a> and 2017 when federal interest was non-existent. </p>
<p>This demonstrates that even small federal action can produce significant change, stimulating spending and improving access. </p>
<h2>Notable improvements</h2>
<p>More than half of provinces and territories have shown notable improvements in the quality of their early learning and child care provisions.</p>
<p>Although our 2020 report does not capture recent changes made in the Yukon, the territory is making notable leaps forward in their programming and affordability, and the territory partially credits the report as a guiding document. Child-care operators now receive $700 per month per child from zero to four years of age, reducing average monthly parent fees to $200. Full-day kindergarten for four-year-olds outside of Whitehorse will start in September 2021. </p>
<p>Educator shortages have been addressed by new wage enhancements with up to a $17.11 per hour top-up, taking the median salary of educators in the Yukon to the highest in the country. The region also has moved oversight of early education into the education ministry, integrating and streamlining services.</p>
<h2>Transforming</h2>
<p>Transforming services to realize a system similar to public education is vital. <a href="https://www.oise.utoronto.ca/atkinson/UserFiles/File/Publications/TELCCS_REPORT.pdf">Public delivery of early learning and child care is associated</a> with better working conditions and increased compensation for educators, streamlined administrative costs and higher program quality. </p>
<p>School boards play a significant role in <a href="http://mwmccain.ca/_media/uploads/deloitte/deloitte_elcc_report.pdf">educating younger children in kindergarten and pre-kindergarten</a> (junior kindergarten). Full-day kindergarten for five-year-old children is offered in all regions except Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta.</p>
<p>Full-time pre-kindergarten programs for four-year-olds are offered in <a href="https://www.ednet.ns.ca/pre-primary">Nova Scotia</a>, <a href="http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/kindergarten/">Ontario</a> and the <a href="https://www.ece.gov.nt.ca/en/services/junior-kindergartenkindergarten">Northwest Territories</a>, with Québec committing to province-wide pre-kindergarten by 2023. </p>
<p>Newfoundland and Labrador and P.E.I. have plans to roll out pre-kindergarten for four-year-olds. Federal funding can be leveraged to support these school-based early learning expansions. </p>
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<img alt="A playground with a blue slide for young children seen outside a school building." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403426/original/file-20210528-16-wi0aki.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403426/original/file-20210528-16-wi0aki.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403426/original/file-20210528-16-wi0aki.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403426/original/file-20210528-16-wi0aki.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403426/original/file-20210528-16-wi0aki.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403426/original/file-20210528-16-wi0aki.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403426/original/file-20210528-16-wi0aki.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Some school boards offer pre-kindergarten for children.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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<h2>What children deserve</h2>
<p>A skilled workforce, leadership and ongoing professional learning are foundational to high-quality early learning and child care. </p>
<p>As the federal government negotiates funding with provinces and territories, this must be top of mind. Based on Canada’s population and the number of available spaces in regulated child care, we are currently at only 39 per cent access for children between zero and five, meaning we are looking to more than double access. </p>
<p>With shortages of a qualified workforce, we cannot allow expansion to be accommodated by reductions in qualifications or ratios of qualified staff. This will greatly reduce the quality of the early learning environment and rob children of the benefits they deserve.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/160968/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emis Akbari does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Beyond addressing key staffing issues, developing high-quality early childhood programs must involve using school boards to expand access and grow spaces while offering more affordable fees.Emis Akbari, Adjunct Professor, Department of Applied Psychology and Human Development at Ontario Institute for the Study of Education (OISE) and Senior Policy Fellow at the Atkinson Centre, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1548072021-04-01T18:47:32Z2021-04-01T18:47:32Z6 ways to teach kindergarten kids to deal with stress during COVID-19, whether learning online or at school<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/392920/original/file-20210331-13-1bnod32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=82%2C57%2C5409%2C3696&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">With some kindergarten children now participating in online learning, questions persist about how they will learn the competencies needed to help them flourish both socially and academically.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world has been anxiously waiting for it to end. While managing uncertainty and lockdowns, school boards have had to transition from in-person and classroom settings to offer <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7332973/coronavirus-ontario-schools-online-learning/">online learning</a>. </p>
<p>In this past difficult year, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/covid-19-pandemic-stress-depression-jennifer-moss-1.5628852">stress levels in many people</a> have <a href="https://www.ipsos.com/en-ca/covid-continues-take-heavy-toll-canadians-mental-health">increased</a>. Supporting children’s self-regulation is one focus of kindergarten education, including
<a href="http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/wellbeing.html">Ontario’s full-day kindergarten</a>. </p>
<p>Self-regulation is how we manage the everyday stressors of life including all our energy and emotions. Developing self-regulation <a href="http://www.edugains.ca/resourcesKIN/Video/Guides/ELK-VideoGuide_SelfReg.pdf">is central to a child’s capacity to learn</a> and is critical for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1207/s15326985ep3204_2">both social relationships and academic knowledge in years to come</a>.</p>
<p>For children enrolled both in online kindergarten or in-person learning due to the pandemic, the need to continue to learn self-regulation has never been more important</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A child holds a picture book in front of a computer." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/392901/original/file-20210331-17-k31u1e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=35%2C278%2C5955%2C3700&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/392901/original/file-20210331-17-k31u1e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392901/original/file-20210331-17-k31u1e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392901/original/file-20210331-17-k31u1e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392901/original/file-20210331-17-k31u1e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392901/original/file-20210331-17-k31u1e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392901/original/file-20210331-17-k31u1e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Children enrolled in both online and in-person kindergarten learning will benefit when trusted adults help them learn how to regulate their feelings.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shuttertstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>In the classroom</h2>
<p>As a doctoral researcher specializing in self-regulation in kindergarten, I think of the many children who rely on the school environment to thrive. I am examining how teachers can promote self-regulation in Ontario kindergarten classrooms when they document various steps in a child’s play-based learning. </p>
<p>Documentation involves gathering children’s learning from multiple artefacts (such as notes, observations, photos, videos, voice recordings, work samples and interactions with children). Educators then analyze and interpret these artifacts in collaboration with children, parents and family members <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2010.05.003">to gain insight to determine next steps for learning</a>.
This process is <a href="http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/inspire/research/cbs_pedagogical.pdf">known as pedagogical documentation</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/kindergarten-scrapbooks-arent-just-your-childs-keepsake-theyre-central-to-learning-117066">Kindergarten scrapbooks aren't just your child's keepsake — they're central to learning</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Educators <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/document/kindergarten-program-2016/self-regulation-and-well-being">support self-regulation</a> in many ways in the classroom. Educators might provide a quiet space for children to be in if they need to get away from the crowded or noisy environment; they may lead children in grounding practices like deep breathing or other use other creative strategies tailored to their particular class. Their support for children’s self-regulation is also seen when they support <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/document/kindergarten-program-2016/play-based-learning-culture-inquiry">children’s play-based learning</a> including documenting children’s play-based inquiries — what interests children, and how they are processing questions and ideas.</p>
<p>Each classroom is unique with children who experience different stressors. Documenting children’s inquiries helps educators to understand each child.<br>
This, in turn, allows them to help children with their self-regulating abilities. Adjustments can be made to the environment through attention to factors like lighting and classroom organization, or helping the child directly. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-team-approach-makes-full-day-kindergarten-a-success-113339">A team approach makes full-day kindergarten a success</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Janette Pelletier, a professor of applied psychology and human development, looked at the <a href="https://theconversation.com/children-gain-learning-boost-from-two-year-full-day-kindergarten-79549">impact on full-day kindergarten versus half-day kindergarten</a>; her research found that children in full-day kindergarten were more able to self-regulate compared to those in half-day kindergarten.</p>
<h2>6 critical elements</h2>
<p>Stuart Shanker, professor emeritus of philosophy and psychology at York University, is one of Canada’s leading experts and seminal authors on the <a href="https://self-reg.ca/">topic of self-regulation</a>. He has identified six critical elements that can be helpful for both children and adults:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>When one is feeling calmly focused and alert, the ability to know that one is calm and alert.</p></li>
<li><p>When one is stressed, the ability to recognize what is causing that stress.</p></li>
<li><p>The ability to recognize stressors both within and outside the classroom (or current environment).</p></li>
<li><p>The desire to deal with those stressors.</p></li>
<li><p>The ability to develop strategies for dealing with those stressors.</p></li>
<li><p>The ability to recover efficiently and effectively from dealing with those stressors.</p></li>
</ol>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A mother and child putting face masks on." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/392902/original/file-20210331-19-1gokdnf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/392902/original/file-20210331-19-1gokdnf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392902/original/file-20210331-19-1gokdnf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392902/original/file-20210331-19-1gokdnf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392902/original/file-20210331-19-1gokdnf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392902/original/file-20210331-19-1gokdnf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392902/original/file-20210331-19-1gokdnf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Learning how to regulate stress means both recognizing what is causing stress and how to develop strategies to deal with it.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>When kindergarten is online</h2>
<p>These six critical elements have been adapted in many kindergarten classrooms.
However, with some kindergarten children enrolled in online learning, questions arise about how to support children during these unprecedented times.</p>
<p>The story of the child who cried <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/25/us/covid-distance-learning-frustration-trnd/index.html">during online learning went viral</a>. We also heard about the teacher who was <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/ontario-online-learning-january-1.5862211">overly stressed and felt like a failure</a>. Beyond this, some parents are juggling to put food on the table and to support their children while working from home.</p>
<p>Undoubtedly, there can be many stressors hindering children from learning. These may include the noise level in the home, difficulty accessing the internet, sensitivity to light and prolonged screen time or not having enough space in their learning area. </p>
<p>Being perceptive to supporting children’s self regulation means if such stressors are identified early, efforts can be made to respond. For example, parents could mitigate issues with noise by giving the child headphones to connect more directly with the teacher and peers online, or a quiet space to aid their learning.</p>
<h2>Parents’ self-regulation</h2>
<p>In <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/316404/self-reg-by-dr-stuart-shanker/"><em>Self-Reg: How to Help Your Child and You Break the Stress Cycle and Successfully Engage with Life</em></a>, Shanker writes that how a parent regulates their own emotions and stressors is an invitation for a child: children are vulnerable to negative emotions that can drain their energy. Sometimes, it can be difficult or impossible for the child to become calm: when a child’s “emotional brakes” wear out, they can no longer get themselves to stop. When this happens at home (for instance, during an online class), children may express negative emotions. </p>
<p>Each child may require different strategies to manage their stress level. <a href="https://self-reg.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/1_4_Domain_Stress_Examples_V2.pdf">Stress is communicated</a> through facial expressions, actions and tone of voice. Some might want a massage, a bath, music, drawing, outdoor time or may need to sleep in a calm environment. When children express negative emotions — what may otherwise be seen as acting out — adults are encouraged to look at children’s stress levels rather than seeing a behavioural issue. If adults approach the situation wrongly by giving a “time out,” or punishments, this may increase children’s stress.</p>
<h2>Other tips to support children</h2>
<p>Give your children a chance to reflect through writing, drawing or speaking at school and home. It is important to remember that self-regulation does not happen overnight. </p>
<p>Self-regulation takes practice and is a process.</p>
<p>For both parents and teachers, it is essential to listen to children and be the external regulator for them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/154807/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Niluja Muralitharan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Many kindergarten classrooms draw on six principles for helping children to manage the everyday stressors of life, and parents can too.Niluja Muralitharan, PhD Student, Education, Brock UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1559032021-03-10T12:16:27Z2021-03-10T12:16:27ZPandemic babies: how COVID-19 has affected child development<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/387304/original/file-20210302-19-1i1hcqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=797%2C0%2C2420%2C1192&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/row-six-multi-ethnic-babies-smiling-1787304743">sirtravelalot/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Babies born after March 11 2020 will have only known a world in the grip of a pandemic. They may never have met anyone who isn’t their parent, or they may only ever have seen their grandparents from a distance. They certainly will not have had the same opportunities to interact with other children as those born in the years before. </p>
<p>What are the implications for these pandemic children? While as researchers we do think that most babies will have had an opportunity to thrive, there’s still a lot we don’t know, and we are clear that the first months and years of life are vitally important for a child’s <a href="https://developingchild.harvard.edu/guide/what-is-early-childhood-development-a-guide-to-the-science/">long-term health, development and wellbeing</a>. </p>
<p>Development takes place at an extraordinary rate during a baby’s first year, when the <a href="https://www.firstthingsfirst.org/early-childhood-matters/brain-development/">brain doubles in size</a>. This early development depends crucially on experience, and particularly social experience, which stimulates, tunes and hones the brain’s unfolding architecture. </p>
<p>A stimulating, varied and responsive environment supports the development of language, cognition and emotional and social competencies. This dependence on environmental input makes the brain exquisitely flexible and capable of adaptation. But, by the same token, it also means that babies are highly susceptible to the negative impacts of adversity.</p>
<p>One thing we also know with great certainty is that <a href="https://www.rcm.org.uk/media/4645/parental-emotional-wellbeing-guide.pdf">parental stress</a> and <a href="https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/children-and-families-at-risk/parental-mental-health-problems">mental health problems</a> pose serious risks to children’s later development, affecting their language and cognitive development, their emotional wellbeing and putting them at risk of depression and anxiety themselves. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, support systems for babies and their families have been <a href="https://bit.ly/2LFIylS">profoundly disrupted by the pandemic</a>. As is sadly often the case, it is the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children who depend on these services and support networks the most. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman and her baby look at an older woman on a tablet." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/387556/original/file-20210303-21-1utmji1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/387556/original/file-20210303-21-1utmji1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387556/original/file-20210303-21-1utmji1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387556/original/file-20210303-21-1utmji1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387556/original/file-20210303-21-1utmji1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387556/original/file-20210303-21-1utmji1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387556/original/file-20210303-21-1utmji1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many babies will have only met their grandparents on Zoom.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/mixed-race-parent-child-young-caucasian-1916768861">insta_photos/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For example, many <a href="https://ihv.org.uk/">health visitors</a>, who provide advice and resources and who are often the main source of support and connection to health services for families with young babies, have been <a href="https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10106430/8/Conti_Dow_The%20impacts%20of%20COVID-19%20on%20Health%20Visiting%20in%20England%20250920.pdf">redeployed into the frontline COVID response</a> during the pandemic. Those who remained have reported that their work with families was considerably affected by very high caseloads and the barriers created by social distancing measures. </p>
<p>Many expressed concerns about their ability to monitor children’s development and refer families to specialist support services when parents were experiencing mental health problems. </p>
<p>On top of that, friends and family have had their ability to visit loved ones and their babies drastically curtailed. </p>
<p>Social support from friends, family, community groups and professionals is normally considered vital not only because it provides infants with variety, stimulation and opportunities for learning, but also because it is good for the wellbeing of parents, on whom babies are so dependent. </p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Read more of our coverage of the first anniversary of the pandemic:</strong></p>
<p><strong><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/hold-for-mar-10-coronavirus-one-year-on-two-countries-that-got-it-right-and-three-that-got-it-wrong-155923">Coronavirus one year on: two countries that got it right, and three that got it wrong</a></em></strong></p>
<p><strong><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/hold-for-mar-10-how-to-deal-with-a-year-of-accumulated-burnout-from-working-at-home-156018">COVID-19: how to deal with a year of accumulated burnout from working at home
</a></em></strong></p>
<hr>
<p>So in these circumstances, what can parents do to help their babies? The <a href="https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/142/3/e20182058?utm_source=STAT%20Newsletters&utm_campaign=053c00c518-MR_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_8cab1d7961-053c00c518-150867485">evidence suggests</a> that the key to optimal development is play and stimulation, those back-and-forth interactions between caregivers and babies. </p>
<p>Following a child’s lead when they take an interest in some item, naming objects, talking, laughing, singing and reading – all simple, minimal-cost activities – keep babies learning and developing even when the world outside is in difficulty.</p>
<h2>Babies at risk</h2>
<p>There are good reasons to be concerned about infant and early child development during this time and, like so many other things, these risks will not be evenly distributed. </p>
<p>The lack of support structures, the economic pressures and the drastic reduction in professional contact with health visitors and social workers during the pandemic is almost certainly placing large numbers of babies at greatly increased risk of harm, including risk of maltreatment and even death. </p>
<p>The effects of abuse on child development are profound and long-lasting, including long-term physical disability, emotional distress and mental health concerns. To give a striking example, <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/210584">nearly half of all adult mental health conditions</a> are associated with a history of childhood maltreatment. </p>
<p>In normal times, maltreatment affects approximately 12%-23% of children, and children in economically disadvantaged circumstances are <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/childabuseandneglect/fastfact.html">five times more likely to be subjected to abuse</a>. In the UK, 51,510 children were on a child protection plan in <a href="https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/characteristics-of-children-in-need/2020">March 2020</a> when the pandemic began. </p>
<p>During the pandemic, local authorities reported more than <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/amanda-spielman-at-ncasc-2020">300 serious incidents of injury and death involving children</a> between April and October 2020 – up by a fifth on the same time last year. An increased proportion (almost 40%) involved children under the age of one. </p>
<p>We also know that <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/articles/domesticabuseduringthecoronaviruscovid19pandemicenglandandwales/november2020#:%7E:text=This%20represents%20a%207%25%20increase,increase%20from%20218%2C968%20in%202018.&text=The%20police%20recorded%20206%2C492%20violence,in%202019%20(Figure%202).">rates of domestic violence have increased greatly</a> during the pandemic and babies are profoundly affected by this, both directly and indirectly. </p>
<p>Indeed, domestic violence is the single most common factor leading a child to be
<a href="https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/characteristics-of-children-in-need/2020">referred to a child protection service</a>. We sadly under-invest in the most vulnerable children at the best of times. We should be extremely concerned about them in times like these.</p>
<h2>The baby blind spot</h2>
<p>Babies need stimulation, social contact and <a href="https://developingchild.harvard.edu/science/key-concepts/serve-and-return/">responsive caregiving</a>, and all of these will have been affected during the pandemic in complex ways, but we lack good evidence about how this is playing out. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A baby eats a piece of fruit." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/387559/original/file-20210303-21-gl1uks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/387559/original/file-20210303-21-gl1uks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387559/original/file-20210303-21-gl1uks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387559/original/file-20210303-21-gl1uks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387559/original/file-20210303-21-gl1uks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387559/original/file-20210303-21-gl1uks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387559/original/file-20210303-21-gl1uks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Most babies should be able to thrive as normal through the pandemic.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/happy-cute-asian-baby-eating-fruits-1054215974">gob_cu/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Oxford Brookes University has <a href="https://babylab.brookes.ac.uk/research/social-distancing-and-development">conducted a study</a> focused on how the pandemic is affecting children of the youngest ages, and in due course will provide us with much-needed insights. But it’s a concern that even now, a year in, we have very poor information about how babies and preschoolers have been affected by the momentous events that have taken place.</p>
<p>This highlights a key point: despite babies being among the most vulnerable in society and most dependent on nurturing care and stimulation, their needs are almost always the last to be noticed. The recent <a href="https://parentinfantfoundation.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/210115-F1001D-Working-for-Babies-Report-FINAL-v1.0-compressed.pdf">Working for Babies report</a> called this the “baby blind-spot”, with good reason. </p>
<p>At this point in the pandemic, we are desperately in need of good data to understand how babies have been affected, and may continue to be affected, in the coming years. It’s clear that the time has come to step up in our responsibility for all of the babies born into these strange times.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/155903/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sunil Bhopal is a clinical lecturer funded by Newcastle University, and holds voluntary unpaid trustee roles with the registered charities Foundation Years Information & Research and The Children's Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pasco Fearon works for UCL and the registered charity the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families. He receives funding from the National Institute for Health Research, the Wellcome Trust and the What Works Centre for Children's Social Care. He is an unpaid Trustee of the registered charity Foundation Years Information Research. He is Deputy Editor in Chief of the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry for which he receives an annual honorarium.</span></em></p>The babies born since March 11 2020 have faced a unique set of challenges.Sunil Bhopal, Academic Clinical Lecturer in Paediatrics, Newcastle UniversityPasco Fearon, Chair in Developmental Psychopathology, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1508932021-02-15T13:12:36Z2021-02-15T13:12:36ZTry a little playfulness if your family’s pandemic routine needs a reset<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/384043/original/file-20210212-19-1xz4df4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=171%2C163%2C4959%2C2528&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Tiny moments of playful connection can invite feelings of gratitude. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many of us were hopeful that 2021 would be the start of a new beginning. However, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/coronavirus-covid19-canada-world-february10-2021-1.5908220">with lockdowns and grim warnings about new strains of COVID-19</a>, society was quickly reminded that the marathon is far from over. </p>
<p>As creative arts therapists working in the pandemic, we commonly hear how deeply disconnection and loneliness are affecting people. To sustain ourselves through the months ahead, we believe people need to intentionally work to find creative ways to connect more, no matter what the distance is.</p>
<p>We invite you to think of how to tend to your own connection needs while also thinking about those in your community. All of us will need tremendous energy for the emotional work ahead. </p>
<p>For those who have lost loved ones during the pandemic, there is profound grief, compounded by losses and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/arts/how-do-we-grieve-those-we-lose-during-this-pandemic-when-we-cannot-attend-their-funerals-1.5689926">disappointments of missed funerals or death rituals</a>. Many are dealing with grief for missed milestones and family and community celebrations, lost opportunities, <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/225-million-jobs-were-lost-worldwide-in-2020-thanks-to-the-pandemic-report-finds-1.5281152">missing financial, employment or personal supports</a> and community and personal connections. There’s also the everyday loss of grounding routines and relationships, and ongoing fear. We will all need energy for so much recovery. </p>
<p>Our hope is to inspire you to intentionally bring a little playfulness and creativity to help light up your connections and perhaps find ways they can be more sustaining. In turn, these tiny adjustments of intention may <a href="https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-017-4308-6">help preserve health</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A snowman in a face mask." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/384046/original/file-20210212-19-8itrjr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/384046/original/file-20210212-19-8itrjr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/384046/original/file-20210212-19-8itrjr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/384046/original/file-20210212-19-8itrjr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/384046/original/file-20210212-19-8itrjr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/384046/original/file-20210212-19-8itrjr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/384046/original/file-20210212-19-8itrjr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">To find sustenance through the months ahead, it will matter to find creative ways to connect more to mutually support one another.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Centring intentions, values</h2>
<p>Start by clarifying what constitutes <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/319055/the-art-of-gathering-by-priya-parker/">your intentions</a> or values. </p>
<p>For example, just because you have a weekly call with friends or family on the calendar, it doesn’t necessarily mean it will fulfil the need for connection. Psychologist <a href="https://www.psychotherapy.net/interview/acceptance-commitment-therapy-ACT-steven-hayes-interview">Stephen Hayes</a> proposes <a href="https://www.guilford.com/books/Acceptance-and-Commitment-Therapy/Hayes-Strosahl-Wilson/9781462528943">clarifying your values so they can inform the actions you commit to</a>. Setting an intention to feel connected, and grounded in personal values, may be more successful.</p>
<p>If the goal is to connect, but calls are leaving you cold, perhaps it’s time to switch from a video conference or a distanced walk. </p>
<p>As many of us have may have “<a href="https://theconversation.com/all-zoomed-out-how-to-deal-with-zoom-fatigue-over-the-holiday-season-150992">Zoom fatigue</a>,” web conferences can be transformed into a <a href="https://gamenightgods.com/how-to-host-a-virtual-game-night/">game night</a> or a <a href="https://www.romper.com/p/how-to-have-a-zoom-crafting-night-thatll-keep-you-creative-connected-22707629">crafting party</a>. </p>
<p>A playful off-screen option is a <a href="https://www.activekids.com/parenting-and-family/articles/entertaining-and-fun-neighborhood-scavenger-hunts-for-kids">scavenger hunt</a>. These might help with cross-generational connections or with those who have less to talk about.</p>
<h2>Antidote to failed connection: Playfulness</h2>
<p>As therapists, we witness many moments of failed connection: values collide, people’s abilities and limitations are not considered. Old hurts get activated, moments to repair are missed and <a href="https://www.gottman.com/blog/turn-toward-instead-of-away/">bids for connection</a> flop. </p>
<p>During stressful relationship moments, it’s easy to quickly climb the nervous system ladder, jumping from a state of relative calm into fight, flight or freeze, and interact with each other badly. Neuropsychiatrist <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/200276/the-whole-brain-child-by-daniel-j-siegel-md-and-tina-payne-bryson-phd/9780553386691">Daniel Siegel</a> calls this “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0T_2NNoC68">flipping our lids</a>,” and his <a href="https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_to_gain_freedom_from_your_thoughts">Wheel of Awareness</a> meditation tool can help with this.</p>
<p>Instead of “flipping our lids,” we can use playfulness.</p>
<p>One day when Bonnie’s son was three, she to had to rush him to daycare. After packing him into his jacket and adjusting the car seat, she reached back to pick him up and found him in that limp posture of protest small children take when they don’t want to do something. </p>
<p>Rather than just stuffing him into the car, <a href="https://books.google.ca/books?id=0Etvry5mHDIC&dq=how+to+talk+so+kids+will+listen&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjw4P_frsHuAhUMUt8KHUi2ArAQ6AEwAHoECAIQAg">she relied on a helpful parenting approach of empathizing with him</a> first: “You were happy playing with your toys. You’re sad we have to go.” Then, as she was newly training as a play therapist and learning about how <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2010.02303.x">parents can connect with their children’s feelings and help coach their children through difficult emotions</a>, she had an idea: her son was obsessed with giant machines so she decided to become a backhoe loader. Her arms became shovels and she loaded him into the car while he laughed with joy.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A mother and child playing hide and seek." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/384038/original/file-20210212-13-178don2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/384038/original/file-20210212-13-178don2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/384038/original/file-20210212-13-178don2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/384038/original/file-20210212-13-178don2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/384038/original/file-20210212-13-178don2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/384038/original/file-20210212-13-178don2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/384038/original/file-20210212-13-178don2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">It may only be a matter of small adjustments of intention to connect better with those we love.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Grumpy pandemic walks</h2>
<p>Moments of playful connection like this can invite feelings of gratitude, which in turn have so many <a href="https://positivepsychology.com/neuroscience-of-gratitude/">positive benefits</a> in relationships. It can really take an extra effort to find a playful impulse, as the fear and constrictions are wearing.</p>
<p>Heather had found her necessary daily walks becoming a chore, as she lives in a densely populated neighbourhood where distancing is a sport. After noticing she and her son were getting grumpy on these walks, she set an intention to tune their attention to the little bits of neighbourhood beauty and magic: a tiny painted mouse door, <a href="https://littlefreelibrary.org/">little free libraries</a> and a giant snow dragon! </p>
<p>In many ways, people’s <a href="https://www.socialcapitalresearch.com/examples-social-capital/">social capital</a> is being depleted as collective fatigue of the pandemic wears on many people’s moods and social graces. At the same time, these little artifacts are examples of ways people creatively show generosity and ways of connecting.</p>
<h2>It’s not all about self-care</h2>
<p>While we recommend ways to bring playfulness, humour, fondness, flexibility and creativity into the mix, we also acknowledge that accessing these may be hard. Some <a href="https://books.google.ca/books?id=vYUm34rk3UoC&lpg=PP1&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false">self-compassion</a> and <a href="https://www.socialworker.com/feature-articles/self-care/self-care-a-z-getting-ready-winter-self-care/">self-care</a> may be needed first. </p>
<p>Reflecting on values and intention may help you consider what you need for self-care. Finding resources <a href="https://self-compassion.org/guided-self-compassion-meditations-mp3-2/">like guided</a> <a href="https://ca.ctrinstitute.com/stress-reduction-exercises/?fbclid=IwAR1PxBaz1hib5IG5sh-CyTM6qmvqUZnkwBhN9nt84TUUCy-KPCTNECJkni4">meditations</a> and <a href="https://www.mbam.qc.ca/en/art-therapy-sessions">creative activities</a> can help. </p>
<p>We recognize the notion of self-care can require <a href="https://thecorrespondent.com/820/the-time-has-come-to-take-the-self-out-of-self-care/108554942320-23749f4b">resources that aren’t distributed equally</a> in society or can <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/aug/21/self-care-radical-feminist-idea-mass-market">obscure the social or political roots of marginalization</a> that can impact well-being. Self-care has also been commercialized into a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/may/07/the-self-care-industry-is-peddling-exhausting-dangerous-drivel">massive industry</a> that can perpetuate feelings of not being or having enough. </p>
<p>And <a href="https://theconversation.com/mental-health-impact-of-coronavirus-pandemic-hits-marginalized-groups-hardest-142127">marginalized groups have been hardest hit by the mental health impacts of the pandemic</a>. </p>
<p>The word compassion, on the other hand, has a root meaning “<a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/compassion">to suffer together</a>.” Is it possible to allow both the helpful and limited aspects of notions of self-care, and a sense of compassion or empathy for suffering, to shape responses? All of us might resolve to make extra efforts to invite, connect and to offer patience <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25059412/">and forgiveness</a> for imperfect moments. </p>
<p>We are all going to need some extra kindness on this road ahead, so hopefully a little fun can help smooth the path!</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/150893/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bonnie Harnden receives funding from the Raschkowan Foundation to support an on-going arts-based research project exploring the effects of awe and gratitude through arts based methods.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Heather McLaughlin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Do we need to just endure grumpy pandemic walks? Creative arts therapists offer tips about how to light up the important family and community connections and routines in your life.Heather McLaughlin, Lecturer, Creative Arts Therapies Department, Concordia UniversityBonnie Harnden, Professor, Creative Arts Therapies Department, Concordia UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.