Brief
Kindergarten comes with big changes for children. It may be their first time in a structured school setting, or in a room with many children.
Each child responds differently. Some get excited about new experiences, while others feel nervous about these upcoming changes. Furthermore, children may react differently once they enter the classroom.
Kids also come to kindergarten at different readiness levels. Some have skills like knowing the alphabet and counting to ten. Others have not yet acquired these skills.
Here are nine ways to help kids make this transition.
Brief
When most people think about parent-child reading activities, they likely picture a mother quietly reading to her children. Very few people would envision a reading event where fathers and children are acting like donkeys, elephants, and gorillas. That is exactly what happens, however, at a Dad and Kid Reading Night sponsored by Strong Fathers-Strong Families. Dad and Kid Reading Night encourages and teaches fathers to read to their children. The books are carefully chosen both to reflect the father child dynamic and to facilitate lively activity.
When dads spend time with their kids from the very beginning and work to keep close feelings between them, good things happen to the kids. This resource provides tips for new fathers to engage and bond with their newborn.
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Training Materials Real Life Heroes® (RLH) is a treatment program that supports the development of safety and attachment needed for reintegration of traumatic memories experienced by children and their caregivers. RLH has been successfully implemented in a wide range of child and family service, educational, and mental health treatment programs for 15 years and was specifically designed for treatment of children and families with Complex Trauma. RLH provides practitioners with easy-to-use tools, including a life storybook and practitioner’s manual (RLH Toolkit) with multi-sensory creative arts activities and…
Brief
This brief explains the Two-Generation (Two-Gen) approach for working with families builds well-being by creating a solid and stable foundation through integrated, intensive, and high-quality services in four areas of focus: early childhood education, elementary education, economic stability, and family engagement. It discusses findings from a research study that explored how three States (Connecticut, Colorado, and Utah) are development and implementing a Two-Gen framework in practice and how support for an intentional Two-Gen approach can be translated into a coordinated implementation…
Other, Fact Sheet
The five protective factors at the foundation of Strengthening Families are characteristics that have been shown to make positive outcomes more likely for young children and their families, and to reduce the likelihood of child abuse and neglect. The five factors are: 1. Parental Resilience 2. Social Connections 3. Concrete Supports 4. Knowledge of Parenting and Child Development 5. Social and Emotional Competence of Children. Learn more about the research-based Protective Factors Framework on this webpage. (Author abstract modified)
Brief
This brief describes the five protective factors that are the foundation of the Strengthening Families Approach: parental resilience, social connections, concrete support in times of need, knowledge of parenting and child development, and social and emotional competence of children. It explains the Strengthening Families Approach benefits all families building on family strengths, can be implemented through small but significant changes in everyday actions, can build on existing programs, and is grounded in research. A chart shows levers, strategies, protective factors, and results of the…
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Training Materials In the Parenting Wisely: Young Children video series, the first three family scenarios are presented in which young children, aged 3-5, don't comply when they are told to stop doing something. In scenario one, a child is trying to get the parent's attention by interrupting the mother when she is on the telephone. Scenario two depicts a tantrum in the grocery store when a young child's demands for treats are denied. The third scene shows a parent having trouble getting a child off to bed. Effective and non-effective methods, routinely used by parents to deal with these challenges, are shown…
This fact sheet profiles the Parents as Teachers program, an evidence-based home visiting approach that builds strong families and promotes positive parent-child interaction so children are healthy, safe, and ready to learn. Findings from a 2004 study on the benefits and costs of prevention and early intervention programs are shared and indicate Parents as Teachers had the largest benefit per dollar of cost ($1.23) of all reviewed pre-kindergarten education programs for children up to age 3. Goals of the Parent as Teachers program are explained and include: enhance parent knowledge of child…
This information sheet presents findings from a national survey of 1,615 parents of children from birth to three years, conducted by Hart Research for ZERO TO THREE, which shows what is on the minds of fathers and what they need for support in nurturing their young child's healthy development. (Author abstract modified)
