At Hanna Perkins Center, emotional intelligence is regarded as a key to happiness and success in life. We’re not alone in this.

Earlier this spring, Richard Boyatzis – a highly regarded professor at Case Western Reserve University – offered a free online class called Inspiring Leadership Through Emotional Intelligence. According to The Plain Dealer, more than 65,000 people registered to take it.

The following 2-minute video is how Boyatzis himself describes emotional intelligence as a foundation for leadership and success.

Modules in the course syllabus have such titles as:

• Emotions are contagious
• Stress and renewal: becoming open to learning and change
• Emotional Intelligence and its link to Leadership 
• The battle between the Ideal Self and Ought Self

For 65,000 people taking Boyatzis’ class, that would seem to make sense.

And freedom is what we grandmothers wish for your young children during spring and summer.

Yes, we know we must be concerned for their safety and we understand that the work week continues for most parents. But please, we implore you, try to provide some sense of freedom and independence for them this summer.

Take advantage of this time – when some routines change and nature beckons – to make this all-too-short season a time of growth and happiness.

The rules

At the start of the outdoor play season, think about the ground rules that are appropriate for your children now; they can do so much more than they did last year. Decide how to set the limits that will allow a young child to realize how much he has grown, how competent he is becoming.

Figure out the boundaries that will allow you to be comfortable without having to be constantly on guard. “You can ride your trike as far as Mrs. Smith’s house, then turn around and come back.” How exciting is that for the 3-year-old who couldn’t even ride the trike last year?

And for the 5-year-old: “You can walk around the block to your friend’s house; just call me when you get there.” She will feel as adventurous as if she had gone to the moon.

Even the toddler will feel like a big boy when you get him out of the stroller and give him a paper bag to fill with his discoveries as you walk slowly to the vacant lot down the street.

Using the things he picks up to make a collage, or sorting them into an egg carton when you return home, extends the sense of discovery even further.

The freedom

When you go to the playground, don’t stop your children from challenging themselves in new ways. Children need to try new and harder things – climbing higher, jumping further, pumping their legs to make the swing go without Mommy or Daddy always pushing them.

If at all possible, provide a safe, enclosed place in your yard where your children can play without your constant supervision. Sure, you’ll check on them from time to time, but the main idea is to let them make up their own activities and allow lots of time for their play.

Ideally, this is a place where they can make a mess with water, dirt, sand and weeds to mix into a mud pie.

Ideally, there is some place where they can pretend they are in a hideaway or fort or ship. Use your own imagination to provide the basics, but allow plenty of leeway for them to use their imaginations—you won’t believe what they come up with.

Anything with water: Help Daddy wash the car, run through the sprinkler, “paint” the side of the house or a wall with a bucket of water and a real paint brush. And how about bubbles? They can provide hours of experimentation using kitchen utensils. Visit Bubblesphere to find a recipe for the best bubble mixture and for ideas of items to use to make different kinds.

The props

Anything you can do to help your children experience nature will help them grow in appreciation of our wonderful world.

Planting a garden, putting up a bird feeder, walking in the woods at a nature center, feeding the ducks at a duck pond, or going to a spot where they can see and experience our Great Lake: these are all experiences that will enrich them now and throughout their lives.

One last thing: try to remember what made summers wonderful for you when you were little. Maybe you can’t remember back to toddler and preschool age, but go back as far as you can.

When you recall the whole family riding bikes together to get ice cream on long summer evenings; when you experience again the thrill of climbing what you thought was a huge tree; when you remember how you and your best friend spent hours under the back porch making pretend meals in battered old pots and pans, you’ll realize what opportunities you should provide for your children so their summer will be one of pleasure, discovery and satisfying growth.

Image courtesy of Chris Roll/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The growing season has begun in earnest, and the children at Hanna Perkins School have been making the most of it in the school’s garden.

The garden encompasses both a vegetable garden and the Hanna Perkins Butterfly Garden – a gift of the Hershey Foundation.

Children have been cutting daffodils to decorate their classrooms, notes Laura Cyrocki, a teacher at Hanna Perkins and manager of the school kitchen as well as the garden.

Preschoolers have been pulling last year’s dried and dead stalks and stems out of the garden and contributing them to the compost pile – which is mixed with all of the kitchen’s compostable material, turned, finished and added back into the garden to enrich the soil.

Together, Cyrocki and the kindergarteners have planted sugar snap peas;  some of the kindergarteners were surprised to discover that “the seeds look just like peas.”

The kindergarteners also have been observing the garlic they planted last fall. In January they observed tiny green shoots, which are now knee-high (to a kindergartener) leaves. Before leaving school for the summer, they will harvest the garlic heads to take home.

Since February, children also have been observing seedlings that they planted under growlights. These are now ready for transplanting in the garden and eventually will grow produce that is used in the healthy meals prepared in the school kitchen.

Students are also making good use of the paved path in the butterfly portion of the garden for riding bikes during their time outside.

Meanwhile, Cyrocki is maintaining the wildflowers and other plantings that attract butterflies and serve as hosts for caterpillars in the Hanna Perkins Butterfly Garden.  The school’s Parent/Toddler group is also involved, raising Painted Lady butterflies for eventual release in the garden.

In a previous blog post, Cyrocki – who earned a B.S. degree in botany – explains why gardens are so effective with young children. They help children to create a connection with the world around them, and also provide important insights about the entire lifecycle that are just right for the developmental stages of children between the ages of birth and 6.

Finally, neighbors are pitching in to help maintain the garden through a small area that has been set aside for community plots. Cyrocki says all of the plots have been claimed for the year, with community gardeners paying a nominal fee to use the facility and its timed sprinklers, and support for overall gardening activities.

POSITION TITLE:
Development Director

DATE OF POSTING:
Dec. 19, 2012. Applications accepted until the position is filled.

SUPERVISED BY:
Chief Executive Officer

PERSONS SUPERVISING:
Information Systems Specialist, assigned contractors and volunteers

STATUS:
Full-time, exempt position requiring extended hours including some evening and weekend work

SUMMARY:
The Development Director, under the direction of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) plans, implements, reports outcomes and evaluates fund-raising activities for Hanna Perkins Center for Child Development (HPC).

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Creates an annual development plan including goals, timetable and outcome measures
• Manages relationships with former, current and prospective donors, including donor recognition and stewardship
• Manages funding request including researching foundations and corporations, preparing grants, managing approved grants.
• Recruits, manages and recognizes volunteers needed to support fund raising activities
• Prepare activity and outcome reporting based on approved development plan for internal and external audiences
• Manages data in Raiser’s Edge software
• Serves as staff liaison to Development Committee and Marketing Committee
• Represents HPC at internal and external events
• Prepares and monitors annual development budget
• Provide direct supervision to assigned HPC staff, contractors and volunteers
• Serves as a member of the management team.

Skills/Knowledge: Demonstrated ability to prospect, cultivate, and manage new donors; strong partnership-building and event planning skills; thorough understanding of all components of a diversified funding base; excellent written and verbal communication skills; proficient literate in development software  (Raiser’s Edge/Black Baud preferred), MS Outlook, WORD and Excel; and grant writing skills.

Qualifications: Bachelor’s degree or equivalent prior experience plus minimum of seven years direct development experience.

Physical Demands: Finance Director will frequently lift and/or move up to 10 pounds and occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds.

Please forward COVER LETTER and RESUME via e-mail to search@hannaperkins.org

OR

Mailing addres:

Development Director Search
Hanna Perkins Center for Child Development
19910 Malvern Road
Shaker Hts., OH 44122

www.hannaperkins.org

Hanna Perkins Center for Child Development is an Equal Opportunity Employer

By SARAH JANE TRIBBLE | Published: April 30, 2013

As a parent, it’s difficult to miss the recent headlines projecting a rise in ADHD cases among children.

Nealry 10 percent of U.S. children between 4 and 17 years old had been diagnosed with attention deficiet hyperactivity disorder as of 2007, according to a report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s 5.4 million children.

By the end of May, the CDC hopes to announce its latest survey results, which are collected from phone conversations with parents, according to an email I received from the federal agency.

Several doctors I spoke with said the data will no doubt show an increase in diagnosis during the past five years. This leaves me wondering: What’s a parent to do?

Read the article

Includes a quote from Hanna Perkins School Director Barbara Streeter.

Parenting has always been stressful, but now more than ever it seems. So my heart goes out to moms and dads who struggle with the issue of how to keep their children safe without instilling undue fear – fear that can lead a child to heightened levels of stranger anxiety.

Stranger anxiety is a normal part of development that occurs in most children around the age of 6 or 7 months, and it may last until the child’s first birthday or so.

At this stage, children are very attached to their primary providers, and they may experience considerable distress when in the company of people with whom they are unfamiliar. Often, they show this distress by hiding behind their parents, quietly peeking at the stranger and loudly protesting if he or she makes any overtures.

When this kind of behavior is seen in older children, I often wonder about angry feelings they may be experiencing. Are those aggressive feelings being projected outward and making the world seem like a very unsafe place?

This is typical of what you find in children who are terrified of the boogey man, burglars, ghosts, etc. As one savvy boy put it, “I think that’s just my mad feelings coming back to get me.”

So, what do you do?

First and foremost, keep your cool. Children are masters at picking up on their parents’ anxiety.

Very matter-of-factly reinforce the importance of not talking to strangers. But then, prepare the child in advance for situations where contact with strangers will be unavoidable – like at the airport, as an example.

You can say things like: “Mommy and daddy will be with you and keep you safe.” Or if a school field trip is planned, you might offer: “When you go to the museum, there will be strangers, but you’ll be with your teacher. And the school staff will keep you safe.”

Also, remind your child about police officers, whose job is to keep us safe.

If you suspect your child is projecting his/her own anger, encourage the use of words for feelings. “You seem angry; I wish you could tell me about it.” If your child seems scared of strangers to the point of panic, seek professional help.

More Parenting Tips available at www.westpsychotherapy.com.

Image courtesy of Arvind Balaraman/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For more information:

Bob Rosenbaum, communications manager

brosenbaum@hannaperkins.org

216-401-9342

April 19, 2013

SHAKER HEIGHTS — The Hanna Perkins Center for Child Development has named Beth Watson its new Director of Development. She will be responsible for managing fundraising activities at the non-profit organization.

Watson comes to Hanna Perkins from Old Trail School in Bath, Ohio, where she served as Director of Alumni & Foundation Relations – a role with similar responsibilities. Prior to that, Watson also served in development positions at Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens and the Epilepsy Foundation of Northeast Ohio.

She holds a BA degree in communications from John Carroll University.

Watson said she joined Hanna Perkins because of its mission to promote the understanding of the inner emotional life of children.

“Having worked in a school environment for the last seven years, I am passionate about making a difference in children’s lives,” she said. “I have seen first-hand the difference that early intervention can make for a child. I am thrilled to be able to help raise funds for one of the organizations that does this best in our region.”

“Beth brings a level of energy and creativity, and a sense of mission that will help Hanna Perkins meet the funding challenges that small social-services organizations face today,” said Hanna Perkins CEO Karen Baer. “We’re pleased to have her on our team.”

About Hanna Perkins

Since 1951, The Hanna Perkins Center for Child Development has served children and families across Northeast Ohio by promoting understanding of the inner emotional life of children. Its work is founded on the knowledge that a child’s behavior is a means of communicating important feelings and emotions that he or she may not yet have the ability to put into words.

Located in the historic renovation of the former Malvern School in Shaker Heights, Hanna Perkins provides these services:

Hanna Perkins School, offering preschool, a state-chartered kindergarten, and parent/toddler classes. The school focuses on emotional intelligence – the ability to understand and manage feelings – which is regarded as a building block for other success skills.

Continuing education and training to teachers, day care providers, social workers and other child-care specialists across Northeast Ohio.

Hadden Clinic for Children & Families, providing developmental guidance and therapy for children and adolescents.

The Reinberger Parent Child Resource Center, offering drop-in play for young children and their parents/caregivers, and educational opportunities based on the Hanna Perkins approach to child development.

Child and Adolescent Psychoanalytic Training, through an intensive program that prepares professionals to provide psychoanalytic therapy to children and adolescents, and to work closely with children’s parents.

###

Web: www.hannaperkins.org

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hannaperkinsschool

Twitter: @hannaperkinsctr

She holds a BA degree in communications from John Carroll University.

“Having worked in a school environment for the last seven years, I am passionate about making a difference in children’s lives,” Watson said upon her arrival. “I have seen first-hand the difference that early intervention can make for a child. I am thrilled to be able to help raise funds for one of the organizations that does this best in our region.”

Director of Development

We work so hard to protect the innocence of early childhood in our family’s microcosm: Be gentle with the kitty. Put the cap back on your marker. Water the flower a little — not too much — so it can keep growing. Walk around the wriggly worms on the rainy day’s sidewalk.

All the tiny nuances of awareness that we try to give to our kids.

When something large and tragic happens in the world around us — as with the bombings at the Boston Marathon, the shootings at Sandy Hook, or natural disasters like Hurricane Sandy — it affects us all. We bear witness. We empathize. We wonder what it would be like if it happened to us, our loved ones, our children.

It can be too much to bear, and we may slip a little in maintaining the protective bubble we’ve put around our children. We might try to talk in code about the tragedy – thinking our kids won’t notice what the grown-ups are talking about. We might let our guard down about sheltering kids from the media – because we desperately want and need more information out of the wish to have the world feel right again.

So, in this awful moment, what can we, as parents, educators, care providers do for young children?

1. Go easy on yourself if you slip up. Notice that you might have talked in front of a child, forgive yourself for the understandable slip, and tend to what that child might have heard. Start with something simple: “I think you heard the grown-ups talking and I bet you have some questions,” or “I know I usually don’t watch the news when you are in the room. You must have some thoughts about what the news person was talking about.”
2. Don’t guess at what the child does or doesn’t know. Ask for their thoughts and theories. This is a great rule of thumb for any of life’s difficult moments: Spend more time listening than talking. Your job is to contain what the child has been exposed to, to garner his or her ideas and  provide compassionate corrections for what has been misunderstood.
3. Don’t give out any additional details, other than what’s needed to correct the child’s theories. If we find the details overwhelming as adults, then the details are not appropriate for children on the periphery of the tragedy. By this I mean that unless a child is in a geographic or social radius that connects them directly to the tragedy, then the child does not need details. Children on the periphery only need reassurance that their trusted grown-ups know how to keep them safe and that the people far away who have been through something scary are getting good help.
4. If a child is within a geographic or social radius of the tragedy, it is important to slow down and think together with someone who knows a lot about child development about how best to address the child’s concerns. This mustbe individualized. There is no standard way to help a child integrate tragedy.
   We have some professional guidelines (Do things in bearable bits; Keep what routines can be kept to provide reassurance; Know that children process things differently than adults; Avoid euphemisms …) but cannot do written justice to the help that is needed in these situations. If you care for a child whose life has been touched by tragedy, reach out for developmental guidance. If you don’t know how to find someone in your community, contact us and we will help you find someone.
5. Demonstrate to your child that our lives keep structure, even when there is something tragic going on for people we care about. We still eat, sleep, go to school and work, make art, play, notice nature, read, make music, even laugh. It is not disloyal to our community or our loved ones to still take pleasure in the world – even if we are mindful of suffering at the same time.
6. Turn off all media. The images and narratives seem to pop up and surprise the grown-ups. Do not take any chances with what your child might be exposed to. Even during children’s programs we will sometimes see ads for news programs. It is just not worth the risk of overwhelming your child. Rely on favorite CDs, DVDs, apps or tech-free entertainment. A child who is not in the geographic or social radius of tragedy need not hear about it accidentally.
7. If your child has been exposed to even a tiny piece of information, take the time to slow down and listen to what he or she heard or saw. Children (and adults) are traumatized by information that is not easily integrated into their understanding of the world. As therapists we know  there is alwaysa way to integrate difficult things into our understanding – it just takes time, compassion, repetition (therefore patience), and a willingness to put things into words.
   Knowledge does not get woven into our awareness with one 5-minute conversation; it takes revisiting over and over.
   (Think about how many times you have to tell your children they must hold hands to cross the street or not to hit the dog … if it takes that many times with simple safety, then it takes that many times with big things like tragedy and loss.)

As therapists, this is what we do: We help parents find compassionate, containing words so they can have the conversations over and over, so  their children can take in life’s experiences without becoming overwhelmed.

As community members, our thoughts are with the victims, families, and first responders in Boston – and around the world.

Image courtesy of Ambro/FreeDigitalPhotos.net