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The request might not show up on any baby-shower wish list, but the gift practically every new parent wants most is guidance 鈥� reliable answers to their countless questions 鈥� and connections with others who understand what they鈥檙e dealing with. The , a curriculum created by the at New York鈥檚 renowned Mount Sinai Kravis Children鈥檚 Hospital, in collaboration with and the听 provides precisely such assistance. The series provides 14 videos that dovetail with families鈥� pediatric well-child visits from birth to 5. Each of the 7-minute videos offer parents bite-sized chunks of just-in-time, science-based information when they need it, and feature animation, lively graphics and real people discussing their own experience with such questions as, 鈥淗ow do I know when my baby is full?鈥� 鈥淲ill I spoil my baby if I pick them up when they cry?鈥� and 鈥淣ewborns go through how many diapers in a day?鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 hard for parents to know who to trust these days,鈥� says Dr. Nia Heard-Garris, attending physician at the Lurie Children鈥檚 Hospital of Chicago. 鈥淵ou google cold symptoms, and it鈥檒l say that you have cancer. It can be hard to distinguish what information sources are legit and whether the sources you find know what they鈥檙e talking about.

鈥淔irst-time parents are often so intimidated,鈥� says Heard-Garris, who was one of the video series鈥� creators and part of a team of pediatricians, public health specialists, consultants and child development specialists who spent the much of the pandemic lockdown meticulously crafting the content for these seven minutes of reassurance. 鈥淗aving a baby is a lot to go through. I can鈥檛 tell you the number of parents I鈥檝e had in my office crying because they knew they couldn鈥檛 do it right.鈥�

In any medical practice, time is of the essence, and in pediatric practice especially there鈥檚 a lot to pack in as the clock is ticking. Dr. Carrie Quinn, executive director of the Mount Sinai Parenting Center, says the challenges are twofold:听Providers don鈥檛 have enough time in primary care to deliver all the information parents need or want, and providers are trained with a focus on illness and treatment. Questions about parenting and how parenting behaviors can shape a child鈥檚 success in relationships and school can affect their mental health, and even physical health and well-being are not always a priority.

鈥淭he science is exploding in the area of early childhood development and how the first few years of life are so important in building a strong foundation for the future,鈥� Quinn says.听鈥淎s health care professionals, we have an incredible opportunity as we are in front of parents from the moment they become a parent. And we have countless touchpoints with families in the months and years that follow. These are all opportunities for us to support parents, help them be the parent they want to be, and to give their child the best start in life.鈥�

The Sparks video series accomplishes the feat of making certain the family鈥檚 medical needs and milestones are met during well-baby visits while also providing the all-important guidance parents seek.

Designed with Parents in Mind

With input the team solicited from experts across the country, the videos blend information on social, emotional and cognitive development with such topics as sleep, safety, nutrition and medical concerns. Parent focus groups guided the creators to design messages in the language and framing that would resonate best. Each video is available in Spanish and English, and the series features an important diversity of families and speakers.

鈥淚n selecting the parents to appear in the videos, [we sought] a wide variety,鈥� says Kathy Kinsner, senior manager of parent resources at Zero to Three. 鈥淲e have same-sex couples, older couples, people who are first-time parents, and a wide range of ethnicities. It鈥檚 not a scholarly lecture, but rather, normal parents asking normal things, showing that there鈥檚 not just one approach, but many paths to the same parenting goal.鈥�

In accompanying the child鈥檚 progress at regular intervals, the videos help shape the mothers鈥� and fathers鈥� evolution into parenthood. Few people in our society have much experience with small children when they start their journey with a newborn, Kinsner says. Moms and dads transform in remarkable ways into this being called 鈥渁 parent,鈥� and the videos foster that process.

鈥淜ids evolve day to day,鈥� she says, 鈥渁nd just when you think you鈥檝e mastered infancy, suddenly you have a toddler on your hands. And that evolution goes on for the next 18 years. So having the videos there, step by step, keeps delivering the message, 鈥榊ou can do this. You can do this.鈥欌��

The series also provides a welcome alternative to the way pediatric practices once approached advice on parenting. Whatever vestiges of 鈥渕y way or the highway鈥� might linger from a more hierarchical, paternalistic past are dispelled with Mount Sinai鈥檚 approach generally; this series embraces equity and trusts parents to know their own culture and mores.

鈥淭oo often in history, families have been told that there is one, defined 鈥榬ight way鈥� of being a parent. We say now that great parenting can look very different from family to family and from culture to culture,鈥� says Rebecca Parlakian, senior director of programs at Zero to Three. 鈥淔or instance, in the section on dual-language learning, families talk about how they approach introducing two languages to their children 鈥� in very different ways. We鈥檝e worked to show that there are lots of healthy, loving approaches 鈥� healthy and loving being the secret sauce 鈥� to achieving the same goal.鈥�

Just as recent science has demonstrated the powerful impact negative early experiences can have on children鈥檚 physical and emotional health, it has also shown that positive parenting can buffer these adverse events. A guiding principle at Mount Sinai Parenting Center is to maximize any opportunity to promote strong parent-child relationships during routine care, to fold coaching and information naturally into every occasion parents have to interact in a pediatric environment. (ELN recently wrote about Mount Sinai鈥檚 Parenting Center鈥檚 groundbreaking environmental transformation partnership with the Bezos Family Foundation, Vroom and Mind in the Making.) Its first major initiative, , was an online, self-directed curriculum for residents designed to model ways do just that. From an initial pilot with eight pediatric residencies in 2018, the curriculum has flourished to the degree that it is now used by 82 percent of pediatric residency training programs and 18 percent of family medical residency training programs in the U.S.

Building Residents鈥� Knowledge Base

The video series will also extend the parenting message to pediatric residents, many of whom have never been parents before.

鈥淲e see this as a really important tool for educating residents,鈥� Parlakian says. 鈥淲e intentionally elevated parents鈥� voices in these videos equivalently to those of the pediatricians鈥� voices because surveys of parents show that while they trust and appreciate information from professionals, they also put a lot of stock and trust in other parents.

鈥淭hese parent voices and the tactical strategies we鈥檙e offering parents in these videos can spark learning in the residents as well,鈥� she says. 鈥淢ost pediatricians recognize that it鈥檚 essential to build relationships with parents, but sometimes it鈥檚 hard to know what to say and how to frame the issues in ways that will resonate with parents.鈥�

User guides offer a set of discussion questions to help residents deepen their understanding and ability to apply the concepts to their work with families, with prompts including, 鈥淲hat struck you in the video? Are you seeing any of these things in your child?鈥� as well as encouraging the residents to talk with the parent about their struggles and achievements.

The video series is flexible to any health care setting and will be offered free to anyone who is interested. Video is a familiar format that doesn鈥檛 require a particular literacy level, which makes the information widely accessible. Rather than hand a parent a three-page article on behavioral issues, for example, parents can watch videos of other parents discussing how they approached these challenges.

The user guides for providers offer various scenarios for how clinics can make use of the series. Pediatric practices can make it easy for parents to watch the videos 鈥� available via web, text or app 鈥� prior to their well-child visits, in the waiting room or while waiting in the exam room before a visit.

Having acquainted themselves with the videos can prepare the providers for any unanswered questions the parents have 鈥� or just normalize for them the fact that new parents have a lot of questions, and that any question is a good one.

One of the video series鈥� key purposes, says Dr. Lisa Satlin, chair of the pediatrics department at Mount Sinai鈥檚 Icahn School of Medicine, is to create partnership among the providers and parents, and to provide a real-life education for all parties.

鈥淭he ready access of information from professionals and other parents that the series provides promises to build the strong parent-child relationships critical for a听child’s physical, mental and emotional development,鈥� she says.

The series saw a soft launch in the fall and will be widely released and promoted this spring. Dr. Heard-Garris predicts it will be a huge hit for providers, residents and especially for parents. 听

鈥淣ever in my years of working at any pediatric institution has there been such extensive guidance for parents on how to navigate these first five years of their child鈥檚 life.鈥�

This story originally published on Early Learning Nation and is now archived on 蜜桃影视. Learn more here.