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2019 Lectures

The Center for Children and Families welcomed parents and professionals for its 11th annual series of lectures titled “Two Generations at a Time: Parent Influences on Child Development.”

January 18, 2019 

Shayla Holub, Ph.D., Candice Mills, Ph.D., Jackie Nelson, Ph.D.
“Strategic Parenting: Embracing Hard Discussions to Enrich Children’s Development”

Three developmental psychologists will discuss common parenting challenges with constructive strategies to support children’s social, cognitive, and emotional adjustment. Dr. Shayla Holub will share strategies for how to turn children’s sometimes candid observations about what others look like into meaningful conversations about accepting others and celebrating differences. Next, Dr. Candice Mills will discuss how to handle tricky and sometimes exhausting questions from children, with a focus on ways to help children develop their critical thinking skills. Finally, Dr. Jackie Nelson will close with a discussion on children’s negative emotions and how parents can navigate those big feelings, even when they occur in the context of parent-child conflict.

February 22, 2019 

Cynthia Frosch, Ph.D.
“A Relational Health Perspective on Early Development”

Evidence highlights the role of sensitive and responsive parenting for supporting children’s development. And while parents’ (and other caregivers’) behavior impacts children, children also impact the experience of parenting, including caregivers’ own development and well-being. In this lecture, Dr. Frosch will share findings from recent collaborations on relational health and parent-child emotional connection. Innovations in assessment and screening for early relational health, as well as implications for practice will be discussed.

March 1, 2019 

Margaret Caughy, Sc.D.
“Dads and Their Kids: The Role of Positive Father-Child Relationships for Early Development”

The importance of fathers for the healthy development of children is often overlooked, and African American and Latino low-income fathers, in particular, are often painted as absent and uninvolved. Dr. Caughy will present findings from a longitudinal study of African American and Latino low-income children from the Dallas area that highlight the unique relationships between fathers and children and how these relationships support healthy development. Implications of these findings for designing early intervention approaches that can support positive fathering will be discussed.