Free Social-emotional Resources to Share with Families

Child Care Aware® of Central Missouri has been utilizing the free resources available from The Technical Assistance Center on Social Emotional Intervention (TACSEI) to help child care professionals manage challenging behaviors for several years.  Their website provides a variety of useful tools at no cost to you.  One new resource provides free printable handouts you can share with families to promote social-emotional skills at home.

The Backpack Connection Series helps parents stay informed about what their child is learning at school, and each one gives specific ideas on how to use the strategy or skill at home.   The handouts cover emotions such as jealousy, frustration, anger, and disappointment as well as challenging behaviors like biting.  There are also pages available on routines like bedtime and skills like sharing.

For example, the handout on smooth transitions offers these helpful tips:

• Use a timer, instrument, or funny noise to alert the child about the coming transition.
• Let the child choose a special toy to take with him to the new activity or place.
• Use a visual schedule to show the child the plan for the day.
• Use a special song during transition times.
• Give the child a job to do during the transition. 

To view and print the Backpack Connection Series or other useful resources, visit TACSEI’s website, www.challengingbehavior.org.

Making Meaning: How Infants and Young Children Make Meaning of Themselves in the World

Child Care Aware^® of Missouri is proud to be a Collaborative Partner, supporting the Psychoanalytic Institute’s presentation of this lecture by Edward Z. Tronick, PhD at the Ethical Society Auditorium in St. Louis, MO on October 27, 2011.

Dr. Tronick is a world-class researcher and teacher, recognized internationally for his work on the social emotional development of infants and young children.  This lecture will focus on the ways infants "make meaning" of the world using non-verbal processes, including emotions and actions, through social play, culture and relationships.

Here is a video of Dr. Tronick's Still-face paradigm in action:


View or print the full flyer and registration form.
View or print a short biography of Dr. Tronick. 

Understanding the Social Emotional Health of Children

Emotional health provides the foundation for success at school and in life. One of the most serious and unrecognized problems facing our nation is the failure to meet the emotional needs of our children. These needs are neglected at home and at school. This neglect jeopardizes the future of the children and our society.

To address this issue, Dr. Gerald Newmark wrote a best-selling book entitled How to Raise Emotionally Healthy Children. It was written to raise public consciousness of emotional health and to provide a practical resource to enable parents, teachers and child care providers to do something about it.

All children, at all ages, have five critical needs in common which stay with them throughout their lives – the need to feel respected, important, accepted, included and secure. These needs are critical because when satisfied, they are the key to developing an emotionally healthy child. This knowledge serves parents and teachers as a road map to guide their actions in creating an emotionally healthy environment. Emotional health affects multiple aspects of our community.

Emotionally healthy children equate to productive, healthy, and engaged citizens. This is reflected through consistent work attendance, reduced poverty, increased altruistic and civic-minded behavior, and ultimately an increased level of self-reliance and self-discipline. These characteristics benefit all of us, as they support our society’s emotional and economic stability.

If you have any concerns about a child’s emotional health or you are concerned about a child’s behavior in your classroom, give us a call and we can help with strategies to work through many of these issues. We can provide phone support or FREE on-site technical assistance to help you in your classroom or with many of the disruptive behaviors observed with children.

Contact Barb Vigil (barb@mo.childcareaware.org), Lori Meisner(lorim@mo.childcareaware.org) or Trinette Brewer (trinette@mo.childcareaware.org) at 573-445-5437 or 800-243-9685 for more information.