Holy Child Values in Action

Ken Ginsburg, MD, MSEd is a pediatrician specializing in adolescent medicine at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), professor of pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the founding director of The Center for Parent and Teen Communication at CHOP. His mission is to prepare adults to be the kind of people that adolescents need and deserve in their lives. He has more than 150 publications, including research and clinical practice articles, books, and chapters. His books include Building Resilience in Children and Teens: Giving Kids Roots and Wings, Congrats-You're Having a Teen!: Strengthen Your Family, and Raise a Good Person. He has appeared on CNN, NPR, The Today Show, Good Morning America, The CBS Morning Show, FOX and Friends, and ABC, NBC, and CBS Nightly News. 

What attendees can expect to learn:
Parents are critically important in the lives of adolescents. The security of your love allows young people to launch successfully into an uncertain future. Your high expectations hold them accountable, keep them safe, and shape them to become their best selves. The best way to protect your child is to prepare them to manage life’s complexities while establishing clear boundaries. Open communication about emotional wellness and distress positions you to support them to be emotionally intelligent and navigate life’s curveballs. Modeling self-care and healthy stress management strategies teaches them to get through tough times. Listen to remind yourself how much you matter. If you have younger children, now is the time to invest in building wise, strong children who will thrive through adolescence and beyond.

Dr. Hasan Merali, MD, MPH, is an associate professor in the department of pediatrics at McMaster University and a pediatric emergency medicine physician at McMaster Children's Hospital. His work has been featured in The New York Times, BBC, Science, Medium, The Boston Globe, NBC, CBC, and Popular Science. He is the author of "Sleep Well, Take Risks, Squish the Peas: Secrets from the Science of Toddlers for a Happier, More Successful Way of Life." He received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School and a master of public health degree from Johns Hopkins University.

What attendees can expect to learn:
Toddlers hold the secrets to having more fun and living a fulfilling life. These are secrets we once knew and ones that a Harvard-trained physician can help us rediscover. Terrible twos, temper tantrums, and grocery store meltdowns are usually the first things that come to mind when people think of toddlers. But Merali has long thought toddlers are among the best people in our society and adults could do well to learn from them. Toddlers excel when it comes to kindness, laughter, play, teamwork, risk-taking, and so many other habits that could objectively improve our lives as adults if we were to act a bit more like them. Join us as we go through the important life lessons we can learn from our youngest teachers and leave with simple, actionable steps to improve the well-being of the entire family. This webinar is for those who parent students of all ages as well as all non-parents.

Phyllis L. Fagell a licensed clinical professional counselor, certified professional school counselor, journalist, and author of “Middle School Matters” and “Middle School Superpowers.” This is the third session in a series of six. In this session, Phyllis discussed the topic of How to Raise Socially Skilled Tweens & Teens Who Can Navigate Friendship Challenges.

What attendees can expect to learn:
Tweens and teens need to feel a sense of belonging in order to take social and academic risks, manage social setbacks, cope with intense emotions, and make smart choices online and offline. Fagell will share practical ways to boost your child's social skills, scaffold risk-taking at an age when they fear embarrassment, and help them find their place in the pack. While the strategies apply to all kids, she will concentrate most on kids in Grades 3–10.

Jennifer Wallace is an award-winning journalist and author of the New York Times bestselling book "Never Enough: When Achievement Pressure Becomes Toxic—and What We Can Do About It." She contributes to The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post and appears frequently on television to discuss her articles and relevant topics. Wallace is a BCG BrightHouse Luminary and consultant with The LEGO Group. She began her journalism career at CBS 60 Minutes and as a journalism fellow at The Center for Parent and Teen Communication at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

What attendees can expect to learn:
Jennifer Wallace explores the roots of toxic achievement pressure and gives a practical framework for how parents, educators, and communities can fight back. This session is for caregivers and parents of school-aged children—primarily adolescents and teens—educators, school counselors, and school administrators.

This summer our faculty and staff read the book “The Anxious Generation” by Jonathan Haidt, and we hosted internal discussions about the book and its insights. Jonathan is a renowned social psychologist, professor, and author, and the premise of the book is “how the great rewiring of childhood is causing an epidemic of mental illness.” Haidt believes that we are overprotecting children in the real world and underprotecting them in the digital world. We hope that our parent community will also take the time to read this book.

About the Speakers:
In a virtual session hosted by 92NY Center for Culture & Arts, social psychologist and New York Times-bestselling author Jonathan Haidt ("The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness" and "The Coddling of the American Mind") and renowned clinical psychologist and parenting expert, Good Inside founder and CEO Dr. Becky Kennedy (known as Dr. Becky to her millions of followers), spoke on the epidemic of anxiety in American children and the solutions that will bring back the play-based childhood.

Andrea Davis (@betterscreentime), author of Creating a Tech Healthy Family, a former teacher, and mother of 5 children, joined us on the evening of Tuesday, October 17 to speak about Creating a Tech-Healthy Family and Untangling Teens & Tech.

What Better Screen Time resources offer:
Parents will learn how to create a family tech plan with their kids, take a slow-tech approach to introduce technology, and teach their children about digital dangers and distractions. In addition, Andrea will describe how to initiate "teen tech talks" with topics around mental health and personal values, preparing your teens for the dangers they might face online, and instill in their teens the skill of concentration, focus, and screen time management.

Ned Johnson is the founder of PrepMatters, an educational company that helps students succeed in high school and get into college. He has extensive experience helping students in a one-on-one capacity, tutoring them so that they can conquer an alphabet of standardized tests, learn to manage theIr anxiety, and develop their own motivation to succeed. With Dr. William Stixrud, Johnson co-authored The Self-Driven Child: The Science and Sense of Giving Your Kids More Control Over Their Lives as well as What Do You Say? How To Talk with Kids to Build Motivation, Stress Tolerance, and a Happy Home. Johnson is also the host of The Self-Driven Child podcast.

What attendees can expect to learn:
Join author and expert Ned Johnson to learn why fostering a healthy sense of control is so important for childrens' intrinsic motivation, success, mental health, and happiness. Parents and caregivers will learn how to pivot from manager to parent consultant, how to be a non-anxious presence and will leave with effective strategies to use with children ranging in age from tots to teens.

Dr. Ken Ginsburg practices adolescent medicine at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and is a professor of pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He practices social adolescent medicine, which is medicine with special attention to prevention and the recognition that social context and stressors affect both physical and emotional health. His research over the last 30 years has focused on facilitating youth to develop their own solutions to social problems and to teach adults how to better serve them. 

What attendees can expect to learn:
Through this session, parents will learn about the Seven C’s Model of Resilience and an overview of resilience with attention to strategies parents can use to help their children help themselves. This session focuses on communication strategies that position parents to be unwavering positive forces in their children’s lives. Parents will leave the session better prepared to:

• Build confidence in their children

• Notice and reinforce their children’s competence

• Foster the vital connection between parents and children

• Develop character and a sense of contribution in their children

• Develop those critical coping strategies that will help their children thrive even through difficult times

• Help their children and teens gain control by learning that the privileges they earn are linked to the responsibility they demonstrate.

Building off the guest speaker that we welcomed to Holy Child this fall, Andrea Davis who spoke about “Creating a Tech Healthy Family,” we welcomed Ben Tracy to speak to Holy Child parents and our Lower and Middle School students about digital citizenship, online safety, and responsible social media use. In tailored, age-appropriate sessions, Ben shared his story that provides a tangible example of how social media can impact your life even years after you post. 

About the speaker:
Ben Tracy, founder of of Safe Social Network, is a leading keynote speaker on digital citizenship, online safety, and responsible social media use. Drawing from his personal experience, Ben shares his compelling story about the impact of teenage social media usage at schools and organizations nationwide. As the founder of Safe Social Network, Ben provides essential online safety information for students, parents, and educators  — and has spoken at over 100 Catholic schools across the country.

What attendees can expect to learn:
Today’s parents are facing monumental challenges with technology, safety, social media, and an unprecedented crisis in teen mental health. Ben Tracy, a leading expert on the impact of technology on this generation, provides guidance for parents to reduce online risks. His presentations, fueled by stories gathered from speaking at schools nationwide, are both passionate and authentic. They offer actionable steps to help you better navigate the digital age.