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Family Newsletter from Extension Dunn County by Luisa Gerasimo, Human Development and Relationship Educator
While it may be more than 6 weeks until we can see a nice melty forecast, it IS time for me to share upcoming SPRING classes and resources designed for families in our community. I hope you will find at least one thing here to take advantage of, or to share with folks you know.
Raising a Thinking Child Series: 6 one-hour sessions for parents, caregivers or educators of 4–7-year-olds. Help guide your children to solve everyday problems with simple skills that build effective communication, planning and brain development. Help kids learn how to think not what to think, so they can solve problems on their own and avoid future conflicts at home and school. Visit https://go.wisc.edu/Y30451 to register by March 3rd. The class is FREE to Dunn County residents, with morning and evening options each Tuesday.
Check out our wonderful parenting website! Choose from hundreds of great parenting classes and resources that UW Madison Division of Extension offers just for you! https://parenting.extension.wisc.edu/ is your one stop shop for everything family. My colleagues and I generally offer 50 classes a quarter and most are FREE. Topics include things like how to talk to kids about scary events, or why fathers matter, or how to bond with teens and tweens.
Why connecting, and reconnecting with babies and toddlers is so dang important. For decades researchers have told us that we must spend time responding to the needs of our little ones. This is how they become attached to us and learn to feel safe in the world. Recently, researchers noted that while we cuddle, read, sing to, and play with our babies, caregivers often need to disconnect to do a short task. What happens next is key. When you reconnect, researchers see even stronger bonds being built between the caregiver and the baby. Who among us has not had to turn away from a baby to buckle up a toddler or clean up a sudden mess? The key thing is to communicate what you are doing and then reconnect. Children who are lucky enough to have this connection, and reconnection with a loving adult, are likely to feel more comfortable in the larger world, because not only have they bonded, they have also learned it is ok to take little breaks from the connection to a loved one and be rewarded with feeling that bond again. Want an adorable video about connection? Watch the youngest TedTalk presenter ever! Molly Wright: How Every Child Can Thrive by Five.
Easy and healthy dinner recipe: https://racinecountyeye.com/2022/10/10/uw-extension-chicken-stir-fry-video-tutorial/ Here is a quick tutorial (use the red button) as well as a recipe in English and Spanish (just have to scroll down a little) for a family-friendly chicken stir fry. You can swap out ingredients easily to take advantage of what you have or what your kids prefer. You can even use frozen chopped onions and peppers from the freezer section of your local grocery store to save a bit of time. Pro tip: serve your children what they like, but encourage them to taste small bits of the colorful ingredients in this stir fry. Children who are exposed to a wide variety of flavors are likely to become less picky over time, and that leads to healthier eating habits.
