Once again, early education has emerged as a major policy and program topic. And, while the importance of early education is undisputed, the increasing calls for "Universal Preschool" and full-day kindergartens have yielded considerable controversy. Our specific interest in public policy for preschool programs stems from our concerns about…

Parental meta-emotion, assessed through interviews, involves parents' philosophy about emotions and has been found to be related to parenting behaviors and children's emotional and social competence (e.g., Gottman, Katz, & Hooven, 1996; Katz & Windecker-Nelson, 2004). The Emotion-Related Parenting Styles Self-Test is a true-false…

This article outlines six primary stages of a child's development. These basic functions show the way mental capacities work together as a team. Cognitive, motor, language, emotional, and social skills act together to help the child learn to deal with the world. Helping a child through these stages and fostering these core capacities requires a…

Although the nature of the relationship of music on students' emotional development remains an issue for continued research, my overall purpose is to provide adults with research-based methods to help children become better consumers of hip-hop music. First, I identify research-based recommendations to prepare adults as facilitators of children's…

This year's "Report Card" breaks new ground by providing "The Children's Agenda", which details the top ten high-priority, high-impact actions California policymakers should take to reverse the declining status of children. It's clear any sound plan to revitalize the state must prioritize children's development. California's history backs this up,…

This document offers the point of view that Bruno Bettelheim's writings, based on Sigmund Freud's approach to education, suggest the most practical applications for achieving positive results within the classroom. The overall result of a student being taught all through school by the Freudian method would be an extremely positive one. Such a…

Assumptions of strong, causal relations between cognition, language, and affection are often made in general and in bilingualism in particular. This paper presents first a set of hypotheses concerning the relation between affection and language in bilingualism. One subset is concerned with language learning, language maintenance, and mental health…

This guide, part of the "Seeds for Success" series, provides an opportunity for adults to reflect on how they communicate with and affect children. The guide offers practical advice for nurturing a child's feelings of being lovable and capable by means of nearly 100 simple activity ideas designed for use with 3- to 5-year-olds. Activities are…

Directors, teachers, parents, and mental health professionals in child care centers were interviewed about aggressive behavior of preverbal children to determine the caregivers' level of understanding about children's emotional development. The definition of aggressive behavior included hitting, biting, pushing, scratching, pinching, grabbing,…

A study conducted in two types of laboratory settings and one school setting tested a model of the development of emotional expression. The model included: (1) societal, peer, and family influences; (2) self-factors, such as physiological, affective, motivation, cognitive, and personality variables; and (3) self-mediators, which act as filters…

Assessments of social competence have played a major role in the identification and treatment of youth with emotional disorders. This study examined the construct validity of the social skills subtest of the Social Skills Rating System (SSRS) when used with youth with emotional disorders. Comparisons were made to examine the convergent and…

A study investigated the relationship among four possible mechanisms for children's socialization of emotion: (1) mothers are essentially modeling the expression of emotion; (2) mothers' emotions serve a coaching function; (3) the affective environment to which a child is exposed may impact general social-emotional competence; and (4) mothers'…

An instrument used to measure depression indicated that 35 percent of grade 7 and 8 students had significant levels of depression. The author suggests that programs regarding student mental health be instituted toward preventive guidance through the school system. (Author/DEP)

A workshop leader and consultant makes an impassioned plea for more and better movement education. Provides ideas for focused movement explorations and discusses the overall goals and advantages of this new breed of physical education. (ED)

A course in Family Life Education entitled "Home and Family Living" is offered to male and female junior and senior students in the Houston Independent School District. The student explores his self-awareness, stages of maturity, sexuality, handling emotions, marriage roles, money management, and later life. (BP)