Parents and Families External Resources
Making Caring Common
Making Caring Common has a variety of resources for families, parents, and caregivers. They offer activities, tips, resource lists, and discussion guides to help you and your team foster kindness and caring with the children in your program.Newcomer Tips for a Fire-Safe Winter
Mississauga Fire is proud to serve a vibrant and growing community that is home to many new Canadians. To ensure that family homes are safe this winter, they've put together a helpful list of winter fire safety tips and translated them into multiple languages. It's full of great information and resource links that you can share with the families you work with as they establish roots in your community!5 Ways Immigrant Parents Support Children’s Home Language Learning
It is important to preserve and develop a child’s home language for their cultural, linguistic, and social development. Yet, languages other than English are often not welcomed or encouraged the way they should be in classrooms. Here are 5 important ways that immigrant parents pass along their important linguistic, cultural, and social knowledge to support children's home language learning.Building Responsive Relationships Remotely
Science tells us that responsive relationships—like those with serve and return interactions—between children and adults, adults and other adults, and children and other children help buffer us against the effects of ongoing stress. These relationships act as a core building block for resilience and help us navigate life’s ups and downs. How do we maintain and promote responsive relationships during the coronavirus pandemic? Harvard Centre on the Developing Child reached out to care providers and others on the frontline of the early childhood development field to learn how they are building relationships with families from afar. Here are their tips for navigating remote interactions with children and families during this unusual time.Preventing and responding to children’s exposure to intimate partner violence
The risks of intimate partner violence intensified due to the pandemic context. The Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development has launched an infographic summarizing the latest knowledge on the consequences associated with children’s exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) and on ways to mitigate and avoid them. We invite you to share this infographic with your networks, as we all work together to put in place, as quickly as possible, the most promising interventions to reduce the distress and hardship of domestic violence.Newcomer families’ experiences with programs and services to support early childhood development in Canada: A scoping review
It can be difficult for families with young children to navigate early childhood development supports. In particular, newcomer families often encounter additional barriers and require resources, programs, and services that are tailored to their unique assets, experiences, and needs. A team of researchers conducted a scoping review of the literature published between 2000 and 2019 to explore what is known about newcomer families’ experiences with programs and services to support early childhood development in Canada. Their report identifies common themes and the need for informed, meaningful and culturally relevant policies, programs, and services for newcomer families to support their children’s well-being.Share 8 Great Reading Tips with Families (in 16 languages)
There are many ways that families of English language learners (ELLs) can support language and literacy at home. Colorín Colorado has a beautiful new series of 8 posters and reading tips for families - and they are available in 16 languages so you can easily share them with parents!Encouraging School Readiness Skills in Preschoolers
The early years are a time when we can help children develop the tools they need to succeed before heading to formal K-12 schooling. Developing these school readiness skills help prepare children for optimal learning throughout their educational journey. This article takes a closer look at some of the school readiness skills that children can work on before they head off to kindergarten!Instructional Resource: Early Language Learning for Newcomer Mothers with Young Children
The Early Language Learning Curriculum (ELL) was originally designed for use with a HIPPY program for newcomer moms in BC, but can stand alone as a language class or be used to support conversation circles or tutoring. ELL covers 12 key settlement topics such as Knowing Your Community, Settlement and Community Services, Physical and Mental Health, Financial Literacy, and Canadian Parenting norms. Newcomers work toward informal skill-using tasks, build confidence, learn about key resources in the community, and break the cycle of isolation surrounding immigrants and refugees with low levels of English so they are more ready for structured LINC learning when their personal circumstances allow.3 Ways to Help Families and Staff Build Resilience During the COVID-19 Outbreak
The worldwide outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a source of unexpected stress and adversity for many people. Resilience can help us get through and overcome hardship, but it's not something we’re born with—it’s built over time. What can we do to help families and staff build up and strengthen resilience right now during the COVID-19 outbreak? And how can we build resilience to plan ahead for future times of crisis?