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We are living in a moment of extraordinary technological acceleration. Axios recently reported that more than 40 million people are turning to ChatGPT every day for health information—and that’s just health care (Axios, 2026). For families and educators, AI can feel like relief: faster answers, easier planning, more efficiency. But childhood isn’t meant to be […]
New Research Reveals a Professional Development Crisis—and a Clear Path Forward Early childhood education stands at a crossroad. The 2025 RAND reports and a national scan of superintendents’ strategic plans show pre-K has moved to the center of the agenda—but professional development systems have not caught up. While kindergarten readiness scores and enrollment numbers grab headlines, mounting evidence […]
The High Cost of Early Childhood Care The November 5, 2025 issue of The Economist includes the article, “Universal Child Care Can Harm Children,” which explores the results of various attempts to make early child care accessible to all parents, regardless of income status. The one aspect of early childhood care that is undebatable is […]
Every educator has their own unique background that can benefit a school community. Teachers who are just starting out can learn a lot from veteran teachers, who have years of experience, expertise, and knowledge. And educators who have been in the field for years can also learn a great deal from new teachers, who offer a fresh perspective and can bring different strategies and creative ideas […]
A Troubling Trend: Preschool Suspensions on the Rise I read a recent article about suspensions in Tulsa – hundreds of children are being expelled or suspended for aggressive, out-of-control behavior, including assault – and they weren’t just limited to high school students. We’re talking about hundreds of preschool students who have been suspended over the […]
A recent Harvard Business Review article examined an analysis of 1,000 occupations and hundreds of skills, capturing 70 million job transitions, and identified several core skills necessary for success across all domains. First and foremost were foundational skills, such as collaboration, mathematical thinking, and adaptability. However, a subset of skills were also paramount to success […]
As parents and children prepare to go back to school, there’s a special cohort of kindergarteners heading to elementary school – “COVID Babies.” These 5-year-olds were born during a time of face masks, social distancing and isolation, among other preventative measures and circumstances, that undeniably affected the development of these babies and toddlers when their […]
Summer is here! School is out, summer programs and camps are underway, and routines are shifting for children, families, and educators everywhere. That’s why the summer is the perfect time to support families in continuing to nurture children’s emotional intelligence skills. We’ve created this guide to foster the home-school connection and keep children’s emotional intelligence […]
I often say that play is a child’s “work” – it is an essential part of a child’s life for their overall health, learning, and well-being through which they process their lived experiences and the world around them. Play provides children with a treasure trove of learning opportunities, and the toys they reach for and […]
Moving from the familiar, what’s known, to the unfamiliar, what’s new and not yet known, involves change – resulting in growth. Growth is a constant battle of gain and loss – a kind of tug of war between losing what feels familiar and secure as we open ourselves up to new experiences that drive us […]
We could all use an extra dose of sunshine and fresh air to shake off the last remnants of winter and feel more like ourselves again! Being cooped up inside for too long can certainly take a toll on your mental health, and the teachers and families of young children know this all too well […]
I recently shared with Good Housekeeping my thoughts on the pros and cons of being a highly sensitive parent. We so often talk about managing our own emotions before we can model and guide children through theirs that it can be easy to forget that for some highly sensitive adults, it can be more difficult than for […]
✉️Dear Dr. Donna, My daughter is in kindergarten, and she has a “friend” in her class who teases her and others, always demands my daughter’s attention, and threatens to end their friendship if my daughter doesn’t play with her. My daughter is a bit shy and quiet… I think she likes […]
What do we want most for our children? We want them to be content, successful in learning and in life, and become the best versions of themselves through the growth of character and moral development. To support our children in developing a positive sense of self, the ability to be caring, compassionate and empathetic with […]
Community is an invaluable resource that, just like any relationship, needs to be nurtured and takes time to build. When we put time and energy into building meaningful connections, sharing our strengths and kindness–and understanding our own feelings and those of others, the outcomes can have lasting positive effects for generations. We all have periods […]
A recent New York Times article1 began with emphasizing how important it is to give children the opportunity to take initiative, problem-solve and build resilience by pointing out how underprepared young adults are for succeeding in life given: “Many recent (high school) graduates aren’t able to set targets, take initiative, figure things out and deal with setbacks — because […]
