Have you ever tried to understand what your child wants, why they aren’t listening, or how to respond to a tantrum? You don’t have to do it alone. It takes a community to help children thrive.
If you’re looking for parenting support and resources in Maryland, you’ve come to the right place.
Here’s how to get 24/7 help. Call:
- FamilyTree Parent Helpline
- Call 1-800-243-7337 for free, confidential support, advice, and community resources. It’s dedicated to the needs and concerns of parents. Learn more about the helpline.
- 211 Maryland
- Call 211 to talk and access essential resources (food, housing, mental health support, etc.).
Classes and Programs for Parents
Children learn and manage their emotions in unique ways. Sometimes their behavior is related to behavioral health or developmental issues, which can make parent-child communication difficult.
Understand helps parents understand their children so they can thrive. They have many resources for families that can help with school, friends and feelings, family dynamics, understanding their community, and tools to help parents see life through their child’s eyes.
Understanding why a child feels or acts a certain way is crucial to establishing a strong parent-child relationship.
The Circle of Security® Parenting™ provides a framework for finding answers to common childhood behaviors. Let’s face it: it’s not always easy. The program supports parents, adoptive parents, childcare providers, and guardians and focuses on strengthening the relationship between parents and children so that you can support your child as they learn and grow.
Several groups throughout Maryland teach Circle of Security® Parenting™ techniques.
You can register for parenting courses in Maryland through:
- Family Tree
- Family Tree Healing Center
- University of Maryland Children’s Hospital
Remember, help for parents is available 24/7 through the Family Tree Parenting Hotline. Call 1-800-243-7337.
Positive Parenting
Even in difficult times, strong parent-child relationships can help a child build resilience. This is the first building block of the Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences (HOPE) program. Their philosophy is that “positivity” already exists in people and cultures. Here are the building blocks for harnessing that positivity even in the midst of financial, emotional, and personal family challenges. Focus on:
- Parent-child relationships
- Opportunities for social and emotional growth
- Safe environment
- Social and civic engagement
Strengthen parent-child relationships
Strengthen your relationship through play. Create strong bonds and positive memories by acting silly or watching a movie together. Your children will appreciate the simple things in life the most.
Long before a child learns to communicate, play plays an important role in their life. The Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University offers a short parenting workshop, lasting just a few minutes, that will show you how to develop your child’s brain through play while strengthening that bond.
For activities that support development and learning from birth to age three, Healthy Start Maryland has a resource guide for parents. It details indicators that a child may be feeling a certain way, examples of child behavior, and actions to take to support the child. It includes tips for infants, ways to help your child with early literacy, such as pre-reading and pre-writing, helping your child communicate, motor coordination, encouraging curiosity, and personal and social development.
Maryland Healthy Beginnings also has a resource guide that engages your child’s creative side with ideas for children ages birth to five. Download the Healthy Beginnings Guide.
Wondering about age-appropriate behavior? Healthy Beginnings has a chart of milestones for personal and social development, language development, cognitive development, and physical development. Remember that every child develops at their own pace.
If you have concerns about your child’s development, talk to your pediatrician, child care provider, or ask your doctor for a referral for an evaluation.
Social and Emotional Growth
Through play, you can also support your child’s emotional and social development. During unstructured play, talk about emotions, feelings, and conflict resolution. Help your child practice self-regulation and emotional control. Let them name their feelings as they arise. Normalize disagreements and show them how to cope with and manage these situations.
The Center for Child Development at Harvard University has an age-specific guide to help parents teach these important life skills, sometimes referred to as “executive function” and “self-regulation.” Age-appropriate games and activities will show you how to prepare your child for life, nurturing a resilient personality capable of coping with and responding to the unknown.
They compare these skills to the work of an air traffic controller at a busy airport. A child must learn to manage all the environmental, social, and emotional stimuli around them so that they can focus their attention, filter out distractions, and mentally shift gears when necessary.
Children are not born with these skills. They are taught and learned as children develop. Experience and social interactions help shape these skills. This takes time, which is why there are classes for toddlers and teenagers.
First, you help your child complete challenging tasks, then you step back and let your child do them on their own, and eventually you let your child learn from their mistakes. From playing peek-a-boo with a baby to playing chess with a teenager, there are ways to engage your child from birth to adulthood so they are ready for everyday challenges.
See the activity guide from the Harvard University Child Development Center to help your child master self-regulation and executive function skills.
Ensuring a safe environment
Create a safe, equitable, and stable environment for your child at home and at school. The environment in which a child grows up can affect their mental and physical health.
Does your child feel safe at school? Are they being bullied? If you have concerns, talk to your child’s school and/or school counselor for help with this issue.
HOPE suggests taking your child(ren) to the park so they can play outside. This helps establish safety and social interactions.
If you have concerns about your housing or need help finding safe housing, call 2-1-1.
