Stay-in-touch with this and other valuable and trusted parenting information on Facebook! Find Parents Know on Facebook (www.facebook.com/parentsknow) and Twitter (@parentsknow). Simply “like” the Parents Know page on Facebook to get all the newsfeeds/posts about parent and family resources and early childhood information. Please help us promote the Parents Know Facebook page to your staff, program participants and community partners. Thank you for your help!

Contact Debbykay Peterson (debbykay.peterson@state.mn.us) with questions about the podcasts or our social media strategies.

Download the brochure here:  Upcoming Podcasts

In Mind in the Making: The Seven Essential Life Skills Every Child Needs leading child development expert and author, Ellen Galinsky identifies seven life skills that will help children reach their full potential in school, the workforce – and in life. The seven essential skills are: (1) Focus and Self Control, (2) Perspective Taking, (3) Communicating, (4) Making Connections, (5) Critical Thinking, (6) Taking on Challenges, and (7) Self-Directed Engaged Learning.

For almost a decade, Galinsky has worked with top researchers from across the country, filming their experiments and studying their results to determine how we learn best. Ellen will talk about her latest book, Mind in the Making: The Seven Essential Life Skills Every Child Needs and show video clips from recent experiments conducted with young children.

Participants will see videos of researchers “in action” sharing studies on the same topic, and they will be able to apply what they have learned to their own lives. They will also be able to ask Ellen questions that help them think about their own learning in relation to the seven essential skills. Please share the attached flyer with parents, staff and community partners about this unique opportunity.

Please join Ellen for this FREE, inclusive, game-changing and collaborative discussion!

Pre-registration is required. This webinar will not be available in a recorded version. Register today at http://www.workingfamilyresourcecenter.org/wfrc/en/p2plive2.asp.

We encourage you to submit your questions ahead of time at parentchat@wfrc.us. Questions will also be welcome during the discussion forum.

Brought to you through a partnership between the Minnesota Department of Education and Working Family Resource Center. Contact Debbykay Peterson (debbykay.peterson@state.mn.us) if you have questions.

April 13, 2011

12:00 – 1:00 p.m.

Parenting Your Child with Special Needs

Parenting a child with special needs multiplies the challenges a parent faces. It requires more of everything: more money, more doctor visits, more stress, more energy and time, more frustration, and often more discouragement. Learn coping skills to help you manage the extra challenges required and gain a positive perspective on parenting your child.

To register for any of the Early Learning Counts Webinars listed please go to www.workingfamilyresourcecenter.org and click on the links on the right hand side of the page.

Can’t attend the live presentation? Access the recorded version at www.workingfamilyresourcecenter.org/wfrc/en/MDE05.asp. All sessions are recorded so that parents and others can access them at times convenient to their schedules. The past sessions have been receiving outstanding evaluations can be accessed online by topic:

• Parenting 101: How to Understand and Enjoy Your Child’s Development
• Social Emotional Development: The Magic of Encouragement
• Discipline Is Teaching: Guiding Children’s Behavior in Positive Ways
• Good Enough Moms and Dads: Separating Fact from Fiction about Parent-Child Attachment
• Countdown to Literacy
• Healthy Kids, Healthy Families

Early childhood programs can also use these Webinars in their parenting education classes, special events, home visits and to share with their community partners. We would like to hear how you are incorporating this information in your programs. For additional information or to share your suggestions, contact Debbykay Peterson (debbykay.peterson@state.mn.us).

Safe Kids, Happy Kids: What Parents Need to Know about Protecting Children from Winter Injuries

You remember your children’s helmets when they get on their bikes, but are you putting helmets on your children before they go sledding? Kristi Moline, Injury Prevention Manager at Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota, joins Marti and Erin for a timely discussion of the most important things you can do to reduce your child’s risk of injury during these winter months!

Find this, other Good Enough Moms™ podcasts and more on www.MNParentsKnow.info. Listen on the website or download to your computer, iPod or other mobile device and listen wherever you want. Share this valuable resource with your staff, parents and community partners. GEMs podcasts can be used in ECFE parenting education classes or on home visits to supplement your curriculum. They provide high quality, evidence-based child development and parenting information featuring state and national experts. Thank you for sharing this information with staff and parents in your programs!

In this issue:

• Helping Children Become Responsible
• Many Anxieties are Normal
• To Work or Not To Work
• Test Your Knowledge About Teaching Responsibility

Good Enough Moms and Dads:

Separating Fact from Fiction about Parent-Child Attachment

January 12, 2011 

12:00 PM – 1:00 PM

Parents today are bombarded with messages telling them how to raise successful kids. One concept that plays a prominent role in those messages is “parent-child attachment,” reportedly an essential foundation on which a child’s optimal learning and development build.

But what does “attachment” really mean, and why is it so important? How can you tell if your child’s attachment with you is developing as it should? Is it true that a baby’s brain development is affected by the quality of the parent-infant relationship? Can a good attachment develop if mom and dad both work outside the home? Is it necessary to breastfeed, “wear” your baby in a sling, or share the family bed in order to form a good attachment? Is it possible for a child and parent to be too attached? If a baby is premature, medically fragile, or at risk for a disability, how might attachment develop differently? And what about an adopted child who may have missed out on a good attachment as an infant? What will it take for that child to form positive connections with adoptive parents, teachers and other caring adults?

Find out answers to these questions and more on the January Early Learning Counts Webinar with Dr. Marti Erickson.

To register for this Webinar, go to www.workingfamilyresourcecenter.org/wfrc/en/MDE05.asp  and click on the Webinar title.

Can’t attend the live presentation? Access the recorded version at www.workingfamilyresourcecenter.org/wfrc/en/MDE05.asp. All sessions are recorded so that parents and others can access them at times convenient to their schedules. The past sessions have been receiving outstanding evaluations can be accessed at online by topic:

• Parenting 101: How to Understand and Enjoy Your Child’s Development http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Z8CKKFN)
• Social Emotional Development: The Magic of Encouragement (http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/3HMFTJY)
• Discipline Is Teaching: Guiding Children’s Behavior in Positive Ways (http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/YJV8YDD)

Early childhood programs can also use these Webinars in their parenting education classes, special events, home visits and to share with their community partners. Several ECFE parent classes are registering for the Webinars as a group. The parent groups will be participating together in the Webinar and following the presentation, will have a parent educator facilitated discussion. Additional ideas for how to use this and other valuable and free parenting resources are included in the attached flyer on how to use MDE/WFRC resources.

Download descriptions of each monthly Early Learning Counts parent Webinar and visit workingfamilyresourcecenter.org to register. Thank you in advance for sharing this information with all your staff, parents participating in your programs and your community partners.

These new parent Webinars are provided through a partnership between the Minnesota Department of Education and the Working Family Resource Center.

For further information, contact Debbykay Peterson at debbykay.peterson@state.mn.us.

It has some great information about:

Planning for your child’s first day of school

If your child will attend school for the first time in the fall, you can help make the important transition—and new experience—easier. The following tips are geared to a child entering kindergarten, but most apply to those beginning preschool, as well.

• Take photos of the school and spend time over the summer reviewing the pictures and talking about going to school. Some parents have created a simple storybook with the pictures for their child.
• Help your child meet other children in the class. Call other parents to arrange for summer play dates with children who will be in the classroom or at the school.
• Help your child adjust to small groups. Try to provide some opportunities such as a story hour at your local library. Click here for the full story

Early Childhood Workshop

Understanding and Addressing Challenging Behavior

Parents of young children from birth to age 5 with developmental delays and /or disabilities will learn about brain development and behavior, different temperament types, stages of development and strategies to provide children with acceptable ways to get their needs met. Click here for full story

• Listen to the weekly half-hour podcasts on child development and parenting www.goodenoughmoms.com
• Engage in the lively discussion that follows each weekly podcast on www.MNParentsKnow.info
• Promote GOOD ENOUGH MOMS™ at your work-place through Working Family Resource Center’s website at www.workingfamilyresourcecenter.org

Click here to download a flyer

Click here to download handout

• Have your child play with alphabet toys
• Print not familiar letters
• Imitate sounds and letters while playing together

Click here to read more. The article is found on page 7 of the PDF