More than 600 early childhood professionals filled the huge ballroom at the Washington, DC Convention Center last month for our “Mad Feelings" workshop helping children deal with their anger at the Annual Conference of NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children), the pre-eminent organization serving those who work with young children.  

As a great testimony to the on-going value of our work, our workshop was selected as a Feature Session and was one of the most well-attended sessions of the four-day conference.  The two highly popular workshop presenters, Hedda Sharapan, FCI’s Director of Early Childhood Initiatives, and Dr. Roberta Schomburg, longtime consultant with FCI, packed the ballroom with hundreds of early childhood professionals from child care centers and family child care homes, higher education, licensing, resource referral agencies, and others in the field. 

The “Mad Feelings” workshop, developed more than a decade ago, continues to be highly sought after as child care professionals are seeing more children with anger issues and with less self-control.  Our approach, based on Fred Rogers’ timeless wisdom, offers insight into anger, strategies for encouraging children to express their anger constructively, and activities to work on developing self-control.  This workshop is available as a Facilitator's Kit, in English as well as in Spanish, along with supplementary material, including a Mad Feelings Activity Book, an easy-to-read FamilyCares parenting brochure about children’s anger and a children’s book Making Friends.     

At the NAEYC conference earlier that day, Hedda was also invited to present our Lullabies to Literacy workshop with a special focus on giving infants language experiences with lullabies, finger plays and caring words – all in the context of a loving relationship.  For the second half of the presentation, Tess Riesmeyer from Pittsburgh-based Beginning with Books discussed the criteria for selecting Best Books for Babies. Family Communications and Beginning with Books are collaborating with the goal of developing materials encouraging professionals and parents to select appropriate books for babies and be aware of language experiences that set the foundation for literacy.  

We’re proud that FCI workshop sessions continue to be highly regarded nationally in the field of early childhood professional development.  As we work to extend Fred Rogers’ legacy, we are continuing to create materials that help to support the professionals serving children.        

 

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