Safety
Lesson plans for educators and families including escape planning, home fire safety, and smoke alarms. Includes crossword puzzles, coloring pages, word searches, and other games for youth to become more familiar with fire safety.
Guidelines for safely participating in winter sports, additional resources are given.
Read on through this article to learn how to spot the signs of bullying and how to protect yourself or friends from it.
Stop. Think. Connect. is a national public awareness campaign aimed at increasing the understanding of cyber threats and empowering American public to be safer and more secure online.
The recent shooting has evoked many emotions—sadness, grief, helplessness, anxiety, and anger. Children who are struggling with their thoughts and feelings about the stories and images of the shooting may turn to trusted adults for help and guidance.
Help Kids Cope is an app designed to assist parents in talking to their children about different disasters they may experience or have already experienced. This app includes 10 different disaster types with sections in each on how to explain, prepare, respond, and heal from the event their family is concerned with. Each section gives guidance on talking to preschool, school-age, and adolescent children, as well as, includes ways parents can help themselves cope and support their children’s reactions. Parent audio icons are located throughout the app—simply tap on these to hear a parent’s personal story. Make sure your device is not on mute or vibrate to hear these stories.
Discussing death with your kids can be a real concern and many tend to avoid it. Death is however an inevitable part of life and it is our responsibility to ensure our kids are aware of it and know it’s okay to discuss it.
This report from Child Trends and the National Center for Children in Poverty includes a review of the prevalence of early childhood trauma and its effects. The report offers promising strategies for child care and preschool programs looking to help young children who have endured trauma, and presents recommendations for policymakers to support trauma-informed early care.
The National Child Traumatic Stress Network recently came out with a child trauma toolkit for educators.
Established by Congress in 2000, the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) brings a singular and comprehensive focus to childhood trauma. NCTSN’s collaboration of frontline providers, researchers, and families is committed to raising the standard of care while increasing access to services. Combining knowledge of child development, expertise in the full range of child traumatic experiences, and dedication to evidence-based practices, the NCTSN changes the course of children’s lives by changing the course of their care.
“Changing the Way We Talk to Teens About Tragic Events” is an article about some strategies for talking to teens about mass shootings, terrorism or unexpected attacks.
“Talking to Children About Tragedies & Other News Events” is an article about how to approach your children after a disaster has transpired.