Bradley Hospital Announces Parenting Matters 2009
(posted April 20, 2009)
Parents today often get mixed messages on the best way to raise children, whether it’s unsolicited advice from family members, suggestions from know-it-all neighbors and friends, or the opinions of complete strangers. It can be difficult for many moms and dads to sort through this hodgepodge of parenting advice and identify those tips and recommendations that will help them raise a happy, healthy family.
• Find out more about Parenting Matters and register online.
On Saturday, April 25, Bradley Hospital, the nation’s first psychiatric hospital for children, will help provide some answers with its annual Parenting Matters conference. This day-long program offers parents, childcare providers and teachers a unique opportunity to connect with top child development and behavior professionals. At Parenting Matters, everyone who’s involved in raising a child can share their experiences, voice their concerns, and benefit from the knowledge and insight of nationally renowned experts in the field of children’s mental health.
The event, now in its 19th year, will take place from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Warwick.
More than two dozen workshops will be offered on a wide range of issues, including “Building Social and Emotional Skills in Children” and “Teaching Kids How to Problem-Solve.”
Scott Haltzman, MD, a board-certified psychiatrist and author, will deliver this year’s keynote address, titled “Weathering the Storm: Helping Families Deal with Adversity.”
Building Social and Emotional Skills in Children
Building social and emotional skills is essentially about growing healthy people, says David Lichtenstein, PhD, a child psychology fellow with Bradley Hospital.
“Almost everything we would want for our children–happiness, health, achievement–springs from a bedrock of social and emotional skills,” he says. “The good news is that we all have the power to teach these skills to the children we know.”
In this workshop, Lichtenstein will offer a framework for social and emotional learning that breaks it down into five core areas, including communications skills and self-awareness. He will also help parents and caregivers start to see opportunities all around them that can be used to teach skills and help children grow.
“Whether it’s at the dinner table, the classroom carpet, or out in the community, adults have the chance to nurture children’s thinking and support their development,” he says.
Teaching Kids How to Problem-Solve
In this workshop, Tracey Sutton, MSW, a social worker at Bradley Hospital, will help parents and caregivers understand how they can serve as role models for problem-solving and how to teach children the skills they need to cope with obstacles and resolve conflict. Some strategies she will discuss include learning how to say no without saying no and how to solve problems collaboratively.
“Critical thinking and adult support in problem-solving is something that starts very young and continues well into the teen years, so it’s a topic that every parent, teacher or caregiver can relate to,” says Sutton.
She says adults can support problem-solving by helping the child explore who owns the problem, identify possible alternative solutions to the problem, and determine what solutions the child is willing to try. Parents and caregivers also need to learn how to encourage dialogue about problems and conflicts before they arise by first identifying the patterns of behavior that indicate a child’s inability to tolerate certain situations or environments.
“This could include anything from transitioning from playing to taking a bath or from watching TV to doing homework,” Sutton adds.