Stress of Poverty is Toxic to Our Children

October 24, 2012

A few weeks ago, I talked to Gov. Bill Haslam about toxic stress, brain development and epigenetics. Those may not have been my exact words, but in asking for the state's help to fight Memphis' intractable poverty, I was discussing them nonetheless. In the meeting in the governor's office in Nashville, I mapped out the city of Memphis' Blueprint for Prosperity, a 10-year plan to reduce Memphis' current 25.4 percent poverty rate to the state's rate of 16.5 percent.

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Everything is Important

October 15, 2012

Parents often ask us what matters most in the raising of their young children. Our answer: Everything. And the best child-rearing begins before the baby is even born. A lot of parents believe that their children are born hard-wired for life, but the truth is that it's the parents themselves that largely hard-wire their children.

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Family Income, Home Environment and the Affect on Young Children

October 2, 2012

According to The Urban Child Institute, a positive home and family environment is essential to promote optimal brain development in young children, and is also paramount to their future success. Language and thinking skills, self control, and self confidence are all aspects of school readiness that are largely determined by the level of support that exists in the home during the first three years of life.

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Prematurity and Low Birth Weight

October 1, 2012

The first three years of life are critically important for a child’s brain development. Experiences during this time can have life-long effects on intellectual, emotional, and social functioning. The months a baby spends in the womb, along with the first 12 months after birth, are arguably the most important time of all. During this period, specialized brain cells called neurons are forming connections with each other, creating the networks that underlie thinking, learning, and feeling.

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