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This newsletter describes the challenges faced by military families when a parent is deployed, characteristics of military families, and children's adjustment in military families. Research findings are cited that indicate children in military families generally fare as well or better than their civilian counterparts, are adaptive and resilient, and cope effectively. The cycle of deployment in the military is examined, as well as family tasks and stressors at each stage. The stages include pre-deployment, deployment, sustainment, reunion, and post-deployment. Differences between peace-time…
Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) is a parent involvement, school readiness program that helps parents prepare their three, four, and five year old children for success in school and beyond. This is a list of research reports that have been produced since the 2003 publication of Parents Making A Difference (a compilation of evaluation studies of the program), organized by primary focus on children, parents, home visitors or community.
Brief
This issue brief explains that the economic health and social well-being of the United States are significantly enhanced when parents have the tools they need to help their children start school prepared to learn, develop thesocial skills necessary to pay attention and work in teams, and grow up to be productive adults. It explores the physical development of the infant brain and the impact of stimulus, and the benefits of parent education programs. Findings from studies on the effectiveness of parenting programs are shared, and 10 parenting programs that are strong enough to have a possible…
Webinar
This Webinar discussed issues including: research concerning the impact of early father-child bonding; ways to engage with fathers prenatally; and, key information that practitioners can present to fathers of infants and toddlers. (Author abstract)
This fact sheet explains the development of toddlers between the ages of 2 and 3, the need for parents to help toddlers navigate the tide of strong emotions, and tips for parenting toddlers. Tips include: talk about feelings and how to cope; offer your child ideas for how to manage strong emotions; empathize with your child; give your child a visual aid to make waiting easier; let your child make choices appropriate to her age; and look for ways to help your child practice self-control.
Research in the last three decades has established a clear link between parental involvement and children's educational attainment. While most of what we know is based on mother-child interactions, increased attention has been paid to the specific influences fathers and other male caregivers have on their children's development. This paper briefly summarises the findings from the field of father involvement that also address the issue of children's literacy practices. Since the literature on father involvement and children's literacy outcomes is limited with significant knowledge gaps, the…
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Journal Article The relevance of father involvement and brain development research to child welfare is discussed, including the influence of advances around brain-based father involvement efforts from the field of early education and care on child welfare workers' practice and courts' decision making. The four stages of implementing a brain-based father initiative are described. 2 figures and 14 references. (Author abstract modified)
Since 1965, the guiding principle of Head Start has been to ensure every child enters school physically, emotionally, and intellectually prepared to begin formal learning. In the program's inaugural year, Head Start provided services to 561,000 children. Currently, Head Start provides services to more than 900,000 children each year, building on its legacy of having served more than 22 million children.Head Start is a family-focused program that helps mothers and fathers understand and appreciate the vital and unique roles they play in their children's healthy development. Nevertheless,…
To explore the similarities and contrasts between poor and non-poor families, Child Trends analyzed data for more than 100,000 families from the 2003 National Survey of Children's Health. Our results suggest that, although poor families experience socioeconomic disadvantages, these families may be enriched by the strengths found in their family routines and relationships. Specifically, we found that poor families are at a disadvantage when it comes to receiving services and benefits and are more likely to express concerns about their neighborhoods. On the other hand, we found that poor…
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Journal Article This article assesses the longitudinal effects of risk and resilience on unmarried nonresident fathers' engagement with children across the first 3 years of their lives. The authors used a subsample of 549 men from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study who were unmarried and noncohabiting at the time of the child's birth. They found not only that risk and resilience factors had a direct effect on paternal engagement but also that their association with engagement was mediated by fathers' continued nonresidence and mother-father relationship quality. Men who leave trajectories of high…
