Apply now to Showcase your work at the San Francisco National ACEs Conference in October 2018!
Applications due June 18. Application link included in this post
May 2018
The Carpenter Vs. The Gardener: Two Models Of Modern Parenting [npr.org]
Parents these days are stressed. So are their kids. The root of this anxiety, one scholar says, is the way we understand the relationship between parents and children. Alison Gopnik , a psychology and philosophy professor at the University of California, Berkeley, thinks parents—especially middle-class parents—view their children as entities they can mold into a specific image. "The idea is that if you just do the right things, get the right skills, read the right books, you're going to be...
Secrets Of A Maya Supermom: What Parenting Books Don't Tell You (npr.org)
In Western culture, parenting is often about control. "We think of obedience from a control angle. Somebody is in charge and the other one is doing what they are told because they have to," says Barbara Rogoff , a psychologist at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who has studied the Maya culture for 30 years. And if you pay attention to the way parents interact with children in our society, the idea is blazingly obvious. We tend to boss them around. "Put your shoes on!" or "Eat your...
13 Reasons Why & Talking Points for Families (www.sscps.org - Counseling Department)
The South Shore Charter Pubic School (in MA) emailed a letter to families last week prior to the airing of season two of the Netflix series "!3 Reasons Why." They also shared some questions and talking points I found helpful . I know people have mixed feelings about how the show depicts teens, adults, depression, trauma, sexual assault, and death by suicide. For those that are watching and discussing the series and these issues, it seems like a great time to talk about childhood adversity...
Podcast Interview with Jane Stevens
Jane Stevens has worked for nearly 40 years as a journalist primarily covering science, health and technology. When she learned about Adverse Childhood Experiences, or ACEs, she saw unmet needs to disseminate the findings of ACEs science and to bring practitioners together. She created Acestoohigh.com and ACESconnection.com , a news site and social networking site which both serve as hubs for education about ACEs and resiliency as well as offering connection for communities striving to put...
Descendants of Holocaust Survivors Have Altered Stress Hormones [www.scientificamerican.com]
For more of this article by Tori Rodriguez , please click here .
Reimagining Black Mamahood in an Unjust Society [Rewire.News]
One could argue that parenting, for Black women, is an act of political warfare. Women of color-led organizations have been working for decades to disrupt the toxic narrative around Black motherhood, a critical step toward dismantling the white supremacy stronghold—but it remains a steep hill to climb. Launched this week, Forward Together’s eighth annual Mamas Day celebration is honoring Black motherhood in all its forms and the right to parent . To commemorate the celebration, artists...
How parents cause children's friendships to end [sciencedaily.com]
Making a friend is hard work. Keeping one is even harder, especially for young children. A novel study published in the Journal of Family Psychology sheds light on why childhood friendships fall apart and is the first to demonstrate that parents are an important source of these breakups. Looking at data from 1,523 children (766 boys) from grades one to six, researchers from Florida Atlantic University and the University of Jyvaskyla in Finland conducted a survival analysis to identify the...
Through a Trauma Lens: The Need for Doulas
Trigger warning: trauma, doctors, hospital, birth, sex It is very important to me to approach all of the work that I do from a trauma-informed perspective. Whether it is asking for consent before touching a student in yoga class, offering self-regulation skills to those I work with, or preparing clients for potential triggers*, I do my best to incorporate my on-going learning in the field of trauma into my professional practices. Recently, I began taking trauma classes for professionals...
The Problem with ACEs Implementation
The Adverse Childhood Experiences study was ground-breaking in its recognition that childhood trauma impacts individuals across their lifespan. This was the big take-away, that adults are living with unrecognized and thus untreated physical, mental and emotional consequences that have massive detrimental impacts on their quality (and quantity) of life. And yet, when we see the research and programming that has been implemented following the ACE study, the consensus seems to be that the...
Sandra Bullock Makes Emotional Plea to Ban the Phrase 'Adopted Children': Say "Our Children" (msn.com)
Sandra Bullocks knows the most important ingredient in a family is love, not DNA. The mother of two chatted about her advocacy in a cover story for InStyle 's June 2018 issue, out May 11, calling for a greater understanding and treatment of women's rights over their own bodies and an end to the phrase "my adopted child". To read more of Stephanie Petit's article, please click here.
Be the Spark: Igniting trauma-informed change within our communities
Authors note: This piece is co-authored by @Lara Kain and @Christine Cissy White. Though we had never worked together or met, we were asked to co-present on creating t rauma-informed changes in communities by the Attachment Trauma Network for the first national (now annual) Creating Trauma-Sensitive Schools Summit in Washington, DC. This article is an expanded essay version of that presentation). Be the Spark Oprah Winfrey helped mainstream discussion about...
How to Parent CALMLY (and Raise Happier Kids) When You Have Childhood PTSD
So many readers have written to me sharing their worries -- and their success stories -- around raising happy, healthy children despite having their own PTSD from childhood. The fear that we'll hurt the kids can hold us back from setting limits, yet losing control of kids' behavior can escalate discipline into a recipe for nervous system dysregulation and emotional overwhelm. In this video I talk about my worst parenting mistake, and how I.... ( Read More and watch the video at the Crappy...
An Editorial: Screening for Childhood Adversities in Prenatal Care: What Works and Why
Despite the landmark ACEs study in 1998, ACEs screening is uncommon in medical clinics - barriers include lack of time, ACEs resources, confidence in addressing sensitive topics, etc. Flanagan et al. developed a training program for clinicians that addressed the barriers, added resilience measures, and included clinic-specific adjustments. The study found that conversations on ACEs and resilience improved women’s trust in and relationship with their clinicians. After the training, clinicians...