Childhood Conversations Conference Comes to Connecticut

Parents and child development professionals throughout the region came together Saturday for the 5th Annual .

The event, hosted by Windsor Social Services and 13 other state and local agencies, attracted more than 200 participants from Connecticut and Massachusetts to the Windsor Marriott. Attendees took part in  workshops aimed at helping parents and caregivers to grow along with their children.

Conference topics ranged from behavioral development and separation anxiety to happiness and healthy sleep patterns.

Scott Noyes, a child development specialist and writer, gave a group of parents and professionals some ideas on how to tackle healthy growth and development of young children through sleep. 

Noyes explained how lack of sleep affects one’s mood, behavior and cognitive abilities and prevents individuals from performing at their optimal level as a human being whether you’re a child or an adult.

As a parent, parents are constantly catering to a child’s needs, Noyes said. If the child isn’t getting enough sleep, chances are neither are the parents.

To aid into the transition of a “healthy sleep pattern,” Noyes provided the following tips:

• Make bedtime a special time and use a routine
• Find your child’s ideal bedtime – “Be really cautious about this one,” said Noyes. “Change will cost you.”
• Use a simple, regular bedtime routine – “The body fits in and understands a cycle,” said Noyse. 
• Use light – “Unless they [children] have it [light] in nature, it seems they’re not benefiting as much as they could,” said Noyse. 
• Don’t use a bottle of anything except water – Juices and other drinks could cause baby bottle tooth decay, said Noyse
• Don’t start solid foods earlier – Noyse said your child could develop sensitivities to food if given solid foods before six months of age
• Don’t put toys in the crib – “Don’t make the bed a play space,” said Noyse.
• And don’t use the bedroom or naps or going to bed early as a threat, allow caffeine or permit TV in your child’s bedroom.

“It’s not a self-help kind of pop-psychology workshop,” Noyes said. “It’s all based on research. Everything comes from what has worked in studies, and I’m sharing those ideas with people who may have not bumped into the information yet.”

The workshop may prove beneficial to Amaryllis Stevens, a Bloomfield parent and clinical supervisor who works with pregnant mothers and children up to five years old. “There are a lot of things that I’m going to try out,” remarked Stevens after the workshop.

Kenya Howard, a Hartford resident and mom of three who works in the childcare field, said the tips presented would likely help her both as a parent and a professional.

“It helped me understand sleep better,” she said. “My 13-year-old doesn’t really sleep. It kind of helped me understand why. He’s going through puberty right now and his hormones are all over the place.’

Addressing the needs of parents in the community through evaluation and discussion has been essential to the Childhood Conversation Conference’s success throughout the years, said Ken Anthony, director of professional development for the CT After School Network. The network is an organization that helps provide quality after-school education for Connecticut students.

“We’re giving [attendees] the experience that we as professionals get often going to conferences,” said Debbie Sheldon, a caseworker for Windsor Social Services.

Over the past five years, the event has garnered support from local organizations like the Children’s Trust Fund and the Connecticut Parenting Education Network. 

“We’re able to add a new partner on each year,” Sheldon said.