These are tough times, and it will show up in the classroom, a children’s advocate told Derby teachers late last month, during their annual preparation day for the new school year.
Parents are worried about keeping their jobs and their homes, said Janice Gruendel, Deputy Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Children and Families.
That will transfer over to the children, she told a crowd of Derby educators during their opening day breakfast at Derby Middle School Aug. 25. Derby students started school Aug. 31.
“There is a lot of stress and it falls onto the children,” Gruendel said.
“When little kids live in toxic stress, neglect, homelessness, substance abusing parents where they don’t know if they’ll be safe, when that happens, it just keeps pulsing though the brain,” Gruendel said. “It impacts on the brain cells.”
The stressed brain chemistry pushes them toward risky behavior, such as disruptive behavior, or acting out, she said.
She gave some tips for reacting to the stress of the students — specifically, reaching out to children in trouble early on.
“We have an obligation to focus early, focus constantly, early in age, and early in your engagement with kids in trouble, who are acting out, who have got a problem,’” she said.
It is important to make children feel safe at school, Gruendel said.
“You to want reinforce (the positive) and nourish,” she said.
She gave no statistics, but said risky behavior among adolescents is up nationwide.
“Little kids are struggling more than they did before,” she said. “What’s important are those first nine years.”
