We look at an article from Ming Kuo in Greater Good Magazine about the positive impact of spending time in nature on children’s academic performance and the recommendations of the Lawson Foundation’s discussion paper on Advancing Outdoor Play and Early Childhood Education, which focuses on the need for alignment of cross-sectorial policies and for the implementation of a specific training focus in Early Childhood Education training and professional development.
Read MoreMétis Nation British Columbia has developed a new Métis Early Years Program for Métis families with children birth to 8 years. The goal of the Métis Early Years Program is to connect Métis families to their community and culture and link them to early years programs and services in their community.
Read MoreOn June 20, 2019 the Canadian Coalition for the Rights of Children posted a statement on Healthy Conditions for Growing up along with a summary of progress in advocating for Children’s Rights in Parliament.
Read MoreWe spoke with Joseph Dunn, Executive Director of the BC Council for Families (BCCF), who is a community development and child and family health, training, policy and practice professional with over 16 years of leadership experience in organizational strategic development, both in the non-profit and government sectors across British Columbia.
Read MoreThe BC Association of Family Resource Programs recognizes outstanding Family Resource Programs and individuals that work tirelessly towards creating healthy families and healthy communities in BC. The awards focus on the impact that member organizations or an individual have in their communities.
Carmen Contreras, of Mount Pleasant Neighbourhood House (MPNH), was one of the 2018 recipients of the Catalyst of Change Award.
Read MoreDr. Kelly McGonigal, a health psychologist and lecturer at Stanford University, shares in a TED talk about how the attitude a person has towards stress can be a significant determiner of whether the stress has a negative or positive impact on health.
Read MoreIn a two-part video series from the Dalai Lama Center, trauma-informed yoga therapist Nicole Marcia explores what it means to be trauma-informed and explains how supporting teens with a trauma-informed approach is strongly linked to Heart-Mind well-being; and introduces yoga as a potential tool for teens to use to manage stress.
Read MoreThe Canada FASD Research Network (CanFASD) has produced a free, short, on-line course, Foundations in FASD, to introduce basic information on FASD for families, workers, and the general public, anyone who will come in contact with individuals with FASD.
Read MoreThe University of British Columbia (UBC) hosts the UBC Learning Circle, a partnership between the Centre for Excellence in Indigenous Health and the First Nations Health Authority, an ongoing videoconference and computer webinar initiative that encourages sharing knowledge about our health and well-being. The intention of the Learning Circle is to provide educational and informational opportunities to health care workers and professionals in First Nations communities.
Read MoreThe National Collaborating Centre for Indigenous Health (NCCIH) offers access to a webinar, Making Steps towards the Provision of Culturally Safe Children’s Rehabilitation Services with Indigenous Communities, Families and Children, based on Dr. Alison Gerlach’s research work and publications. Her work focuses on the development of inclusive and responsive knowledges and early childhood and family policies and practices that address social justice and equity issues for families and children who live with various structural forms of social disadvantage.
Read MoreWe spoke with Nicole Purvis, the CAPC Coordinator for Nelson, who has introduced a new feature, “Storytellers”, to her drop-in program on Wednesdays. She invites a member of the local community to come in to the program and take the story time, as an added focus to the regular drop-in program.
Read MoreThe new Canada Food Guide released in January 2019 uses a plate image, half filled with fruit and vegetables, one quarter with protein foods, and one quarter with whole-grain foods, alongside a glass of water, with the recommendation to “make water your drink of choice”. The guide stresses that “healthy eating is more than the foods you eat”, recommending mindful eating, cooking from scratch, taking time to enjoy food and eat in company with others, limiting sodium, sugars and saturated fat, using food information labels on packaged food, and being aware of food marketing.
Read MoreGardening with young children can be a joyful experience for child and adult to share. Let go of adult notions of “gardening success”; for children, it is the process that is important, joining in the work, looking touching, smelling, engaging directly with soil and plants. Click here for a variety of ways to engage infants and toddlers in gardening experiences.
Read MoreThe BC Government put forward a budget in February with significant impacts for families, and on March 18 released a poverty reduction plan, TogetherBC, which brings together a number of policy changes the provincial government have made since 2017 that are hoped will reduce overall poverty in the province by one-quarter and cut child poverty in half in the next five years.
Read MoreThe Best Start: Healthy Baby Healthy Brain website offers a group of three short videos showing interactive play between parents and their babies and toddlers: Everyday Play, Play using all the Senses, and Language, numbers and play. The ideas incorporated in the videos demonstrate the type of play of which new parent-baby interaction brain-echoing research is confirming the value.
Read MoreBounce Back® is a free online and one-to-one coaching program for teens and adults with mild to moderate depression, ages 15 and up. With coaching available in English, French, Cantonese, Mandarin and Punjabi, this accessible new program has been developed by the Canadian Mental Health Association: BC Division in partnership with the BC Provincial Health Services Authority.
Read MoreFurther exploring research that has shown that children born to adolescent mothers generally perform more poorly on school readiness assessments than their peers born to adult mothers, a broad-based study published in February of this year explores links between lower school readiness for the children and grandchildren of women who gave birth in their teens, demonstrating multi-generational effects.
Read MoreWorking with the Frameworks Intitute to find phrasing that is accessible and meaningful to a general audience, Alberta Family Wellness (AFW) has produced a set of attractive and concise Learning Cards outlining in positive language how early experiences build brains. Each card is centred on one of the selected descriptive terms: Brain Architecture, Toxic Stress, Air Traffic Control, Serve & Return, and Resilience.
Read MoreWe spoke with Niki Sinhart, CAPC Site Coordinator for Cranbrook, BC, and Jenn Betts, Cranbrook and Kimberley CPNP Bellies to Babies Pregnancy and Family Resource Program Outreach Worker, who are running the Mothercraft Building Connections program in their community.
Read MoreThe Canadian Paediatric Society has issued a new position statement on timing of introduction of allergenic solids for infants at high risk, based on research findings that have led to a significant revision of previous advice.
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