Parental Stress

Event Details
- Title: Pediatric Virtual Symposium
- Date: Live event on Oct. 10, 2025
- Access: Sessions available through Dec. 31, 2025
Key Speakers:
- Blair Hammond, MD, FAAP
- Role: Associate Professor at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
- Title: Co-Founding Director of Mount Sinai Parenting Center
- Ariana Komaroff, DNP, FNP-BC, IBCLC, PMH-C
- Role: Associate Professor at Columbia University Medical Center
Organization: National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners
Registration:
- Enrollment to receive free resources encouraged

Financial Disclosures:
- No financial disclosures or conflicts of interest.
Insights from the Speakers:
- As new clinicians, sometimes fabricating parenting advice.
- Difficulty in practicing recommended advice as parents.
- Challenges in addressing all necessary topics during well-child visits.
- Experiencing heightened stress as both parents and providers.

Recognize:
- Impact of safe, stable, nurturing relationships (SSNR) on children's health and development, especially in buffering toxic stress.
Utilize:
- Free digital resources available for providers to support parents, enhancing early relational health and child development.
Identify:
- Strategies to manage common parenting concerns to foster positive parenting behaviors and enhance early childhood development.

Common Concerns Presented by Parents:
- Frequent crying.
- Behavioral issues: perceived as “bad”, picky eaters, aggressiveness, hitting, biting, tantrums.
Parental Stress Indicators:
- Observations of parents:
- Focused on phone apps instead of interaction with child during visits.
- Stress manifested by multitasking difficulties, handling multiple crying children, and childcare challenges.

Key Findings:
- Parents report higher stress levels compared to the general adult population.
- Nearly 50% of parents feel overwhelmed on most days.
- Loneliness amplifies stress levels, with social connections acting as buffers.
- Emphasis on discussing struggles openly and implementing supportive strategies.

Influence on Development:
- Parenting affects social, economic, and health outcomes.
- Negative early experiences with parents can alter gene expression and affect child development and health.
Positive Parenting Behaviors:
- Behaviors linked to improved health outcomes and disease risk reduction.
- Stress complicates parents' ability to connect with children during critical developmental stages.

Neural Connections:
- Over 1 million new neural connections formed every second in early years.
- Importance of SSNRs highlighted by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP): SSNRs as Biological Necessities
- Mitigate childhood toxic stress and facilitate resilience and adaptive coping skills.

Key Questions for Providers:
- Beyond identifying delays, how can practitioners encourage early relational health?
- Turning behavioral challenges into opportunities for connection and child growth.
- Addressing parental and provider burnout through supportive practices.

Modeling Positive Interaction:
- Consistent connection and validation in provider-parent interactions.
- Strengthening parent-child relationships through effective practices and acknowledgement.

Provider Resources:
- Keystones of Development:
- Free online curriculum designed to integrate positive parenting behaviors into routine well-child visits.
- Supported by research, focused on parent behaviors affecting outcomes, applicable through real-time interactions.

Characteristics:
- Ability to buffer adversity.
- Dynamic relationships evolve over time, including rupture and repair mechanisms fostering resilience.
Promoting Secure Attachment:
- Warm, sensitive interactions between parent and infant.
- Importance of predictability and stability in caregiver responses to build trust and emotional control.

Case Studies and Scenarios:
- Various scenarios discussed for infants and toddlers, addressing typical concerns (e.g., excessive crying, feeding, sleep issues).
- Strategies to validate parents’ feelings and discuss appropriate developmental expectations.
- Encourage positive language and avoid shaming during consultations regarding child behavior (e.g., hitting).

Definition of Autonomy:
- Ability to explore and learn independently.
- Fundamental to intrinsic motivation and confidence.
Supporting Autonomy:
- Encouraging children to do tasks they are capable of while guiding them through challenging tasks.
- Introducing strategies to create an environment that supports child exploration and independence.

Importance:
- The capacity to manage emotions, behavior, and attention to meet goals.
- Correlational attributes that enhance school readiness.
Influencing Factors:
- Supportive parenting behaviors, consistent routines, emotional labeling, and constructive discipline approaches.

Critical Skills for Success:
- Filtering distractions, prioritizing tasks, and goal setting.
- Methods for parents to scaffold skills through games and mindfulness activities.

Pilot Study Findings (2018-2019):
- Knowledge Increase: 23%
- Confidence Increase: 37%
- Behavior Change: 38%
- Barriers Reduction: 20%

Mobile App and Educational Materials:
- Tools for enhancing pediatric practice encouraging healthy early development interactions.
Contact Information for Further Support:
- Email for inquiries: keystones@mssm.edu
- Website for resources: https://parenting.mountsinai.org

Encouragement for Practitioners:
- Emphasize the importance of connection amidst challenges of parenting to foster growth.
- Inquiry into new strategies or resources that could enhance practice.