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Got the Winter Blues? Time to Plan a New Project!

January 25, 2012

Julie A. Riess, Ph.D., is the Senior Advisor on Child Development and Education at Families and Work Institute. She is a developmental psychologist and the director of the Wimpfheimer Nursery School at Vassar College.

This article was originally published in the Poughkeepsie Journal by Gannett Publications on January 22, 2012.

Two years ago, my son started a “365” project. He wanted to improve his skills as a photographer and made a pledge to himself to take at least one picture a day for the calendar year. On New Year’s Eve,  2010, we watched them as a slide show on our TV. We had had many sneak previews, including following along on his Facebook photo album. Yet the whole show, a year in pictures, was poignant in a new way.

There were some obvious things that made us smile, such as family blowing out birthday cake candles or the annual posed picture at our family’s summer vacation spot. Surprisingly, the more salient photos for me were the unexpected moments in daily life. There was the light switch in a darkened room at 11:59 p.m. (determination to keep the project afloat on a day he forgot to take a picture). There was the half full glass of water on a nightstand, from when he was sick in bed. There was a photo of a train window and another of car tail lights, as he traveled to interviews for graduate school.

Research on children’s memories, including interviews with children, often highlight the snapshots of our daily lives more than the center stage events. Memorable moments come in all shapes and sizes, yet the details sometimes tell the story better than the canvas. It isn’t as much about the trip to Disney World as discovering the little chocolate on a hotel pillow. It isn’t as much about a new bicycle as the moment a parent let go and you didn’t fall.

Learning Communities: An Emerging Phenomenon by Ellen Galinsky

January 18, 2012

The current edition of NAEYC's Young Children, pages 20-27, has an article by Ellen called Learning Communities: An Emerging Phenomenon. Here is a link to the issue.

Raising a Puppy: A refresher course in Basic Parenting 101

January 09, 2012

Julie A. Riess, Ph.D., is the Senior Advisor on Child Development and Education at Families and Work Institute. She is a developmental psychologist and the director of the Wimpfheimer Nursery School at Vassar College.

This article was originally published in the Poughkeepsie Journal by Gannett Publications on January 8, 2012.

On December 11, 2011, our family life changed forever: we adopted a 13 week old puppy.   Like classic expectant parents, we were excited and a little bit nervous.  What would we name him? How would our lives change?  Were we ready? 

As a veteran parent of three children, I was most focused on impending sleepless nights or at the very best, interrupted sleep. Coping with being sleep deprived has never been one of my strengths as a parent.  I was confident that expecting to be sleep deprived was half of the adjustment.

We are now at day 22 and I’ve only been awakened once during the night. Chai Latte sleeps through the night like a perfect puppy. My biggest worry turned out to be no worry at all. Hum, I thought, this is just like when I became a parent for the first time 25 years ago; nothing was what I expected.

The Best Present Ever

January 02, 2012

Julie A. Riess, Ph.D., is the Senior Advisor on Child Development and Education at Families and Work Institute. She is a developmental psychologist and the director of the Wimpfheimer Nursery School at Vassar College.

Portions of this article were originally published in the Poughkeepsie Journal by Gannett Publications on December 25, 2011.

About every six years, I get to write a Christmas Day column. It is a time of much reflection about writing something meaningful in the true spirit of Christmas in a diverse world. I’ve written about hope, wonder, and following your star. I’ve written about villages, community, and gifts of nothing that are really quite something.

I confess that I have been “stuck” in finding just the right words. Thankfully, working in a nursery school is an ongoing source of inspiration for my writing. Sometimes I seek out the children or teachers for an idea. Other times, they simply appear on my doorstep.

A few days ago, a teacher at my school shared with me a project that she had just finished in her class. Her eyes were aglow with an outcome not on the lesson plan. Suddenly, I realized that my column was right in front me of me all this time. I would write about the children.

Using the Seven Skills to Help Make this the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

December 22, 2011

Julie A. Riess, Ph.D., is the Senior Advisor on Child Development and Education at Families and Work Institute. She is a developmental psychologist and the director of the Wimpfheimer Nursery School at Vassar College.

Portions of this article were originally published in the Poughkeepsie Journal by Gannett Publications on December 11, 2011.

Oh, yes... it is definitely "that time of year" again! It takes a lot of skill to navigate the holidays in our contemporary culture. There are two overall benefits to thinking about the seven essential skills during the holiday season.   First, each skill can help us manage our personal and/or professional lives, especially during times of stress.  Second, demands of the holiday season are the perfect time to practice each skill, which in turn strengthens each for further growth.  It is positive example of “what goes around, comes around”.

Two of my favorite skills for illustrating this "goes around, comes around" principle during the holidays are Focus and Self Control and Perspective-Taking.