Office of Child Care and Family Resources

Dear Families,

We hope that you and your family are staying strong and healthy! As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to change our world, we are constantly thinking about how to stay connected and to support you.

Our office recently offered two live lunchtime webinars with Dr. Laura Froyen on the topic of Supporting Independent Play (so you can work!). Dr. Laura discusses how to encourage independent play in your children. Independent play provides greater opportunity to focus on your work as you juggle parenting and working from home. This practice is also incredibly beneficial for children. Play is their primary mode of learning and processing, and deep, immersive, independent play is critical to their development. Even if you’re back at work or your kids are back in childcare/camp, you can still benefit from these simple principles.  https://youtu.be/npVLSmM_9sk and https://youtu.be/LH_A7dUY6Xo.

During this period of uncertainty, it is even more important to carve out time for self-care as we continue to take care of our families, friends, and communities. We would like to share with you a free mobile app that might help to deal with the added stress: https://insighttimer.com. Insight Timer has a free library of meditation videos for parents with guided meditations for you to do together with your children https://insighttimer.com/meditation-topics/children. Not only can these resources create calm in children, but they might also boost self-confidence and lay the foundation for sounder sleep.

Also, I highly recommend a Webinar titled Cultivating Purpose in Uncertain Times from the UW-Madison Center for Healthy Minds: https://centerhealthyminds.org/well-being-toolkit-covid19.

You can also sign up for free Healthy Mind’s programs at https://tryhealthyminds.org.

Thinking of you and sending you calm and peace.

Please remember to take care of yourself and each other!

Director of the Office of Child Care and Family Resources