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Social & Emotional Development

In Honor of Her: Venida Browder and her fight for justice told by her son Deion Browder.

December 18, 2018
On June 6th 2015, the news of Kalief Browder’s untimely death was mourned across the country. Kalief at sixteen had been arrested for theft of a backpack, a crime he contended he did not commit. Subsequently, he was detained without being charged with a crime at Rikers Island simply because his...
Beatriz Beckford's picture

How to Help Children on Long Car Trips or Plane Rides

December 18, 2018
I was sweating at the base of my spine thinking about the possibility that my two-year-old would wake up from her nap and I would have to tolerate all of the passengers staring and judging. This was my first trip alone on a flight with my daughter and my mind was whirling with multiple worst-case...
Lina Acosta Sandaal's picture

How Many Gifts to Give Young Children During the Holidays?

December 14, 2018
Every December at my center , parents ask me how to not spoil their children and how to manage the gift-giving frenzy of the holidays. The following are the answers to the most popular parent questions during the holiday: How many gifts should we give our kids? There is no magic number but if the...
Lina Acosta Sandaal's picture

Education Buzzwords: A Rundown on Social & Emotional Learning

December 10, 2018
Although the concept has been around for some time, social emotional learning (SEL) has become the new buzzword in education circles, joining the ranks of other child and youth-centered keywords including trauma-informed teaching, restorative justice, and positive behavior intervention schools...
Beatriz Beckford's picture

Remembering My Dear Friend and Freedom Fighter Dr. John Maguire

December 6, 2018
“Up until I was 16 years old and a senior in high school, I did the same thing my friends did. We drove through the Black side of town throwing pears at Black guys and yelling racial epithets. We were the White oppressors. I was the White oppressor.” My dear friend Dr. John Maguire readily admitted...
Marian Wright Edelman's picture

Safety In Our Kids' Schools: Providing Social & Emotional Support

December 4, 2018
As a parent, I believe that it is essential that my children feel not just physically safe, but also socially and emotionally safe in their schools. As a mental health professional who has worked in both elementary and high schools, I have seen that physical safety is often the primary focus in...
Keisha Mathew's picture

9 Ways to Avoid the Rampant Consumerism of the Holidays

November 28, 2018
Now that Black Friday starts at many stores on Thanksgiving night itself, holiday shopping madness is in full swing even before you put away the leftovers. And many of the season's strongest sales pitches are directed right at kids. If you want to enjoy the holiday on your terms, it'll take a...
Caroline Knorr's picture

Lessons in Servant Leadership

November 16, 2018
“The way through chaos, calamity, and confusion is not by adding chaos, calamity, and confusion. That multiplies what’s hurting us and undermining us. The Hebrew and Christian Bibles insist from the first chapter to the last chapter you cannot overcome evil with evil, you have to overcome evil with...
Marian Wright Edelman's picture

Where Kids Find Hate Online -- and Tips for How to Handle It

November 9, 2018
Hate speech is all over the internet. Fueled by trolls , extremists, false information , and a group mentality, this kind of cruelty against a religion, ethnicity, sexual identity, gender, race -- or anything, really -- has reached a fever pitch. And while some kids will be attacked, and some may...
Caroline Knorr's picture

Succeeding Against the Odds

November 9, 2018
After two years of divisive, hateful rhetoric from the highest levels of government, the profoundly inhumane treatment of immigrant families, and the placing of corporate profits ahead of the basic needs of children—the poorest age group in America—the results of Tuesday’s election instilled in...
Marian Wright Edelman's picture

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