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Recently, Lucy Foulkes, a Research Fellow in the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford, wrote an opinion piece for The Guardian newspaper titled, “Mental-health lessons in schools sound a like a great idea. The trouble is, they don’t work,” in which she asserts, “the only information we should teach en masse is where a young person should get help.” My guest today to discuss this article and get beyond its provocative title is Kevin Runions. In addition to being a friend of Talking About Kids, Kevin is an academic researcher, an independent consultant, and a globally-recognized expert on the important components of school climate, like bullying initiatives and mental-health lessons. Spoiler alert: Keven and I do not believe that the research Lucy cites supports her conclusion. More information about Kevin, including how you can engage him to improve school climates where you live, is at talkingaboutkids.com.

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Do you know where the substitute teachers for your child’s preschool come from? If you are like me, you might imagine that potential substitutes and administrators sit down and get to know each other, possibly over tea and finger sandwiches. My guest this episode, Paul Buckley, will tell you that nothing could be further from the truth. Paul explains that current staffing practices afford preschools and substitutes very little, if any, say in the match process and offer few opportunities to build relationships and provide consistency. In the end, Paul believes that it is the children’s development that suffers, so he used his experience as a preschool instructor and as a leader in a large tech firm to develop a different staffing process, which he named Ratio Staffing. Paul and I discuss the problem, how Ratio Staffing corrects it, and his tips for discerning whether a preschool is supporting its teachers and substitutes. More information about Paul – including a link to Ratio Staffing, where, for a limited time, the code “aboutkids” gets preschools an extended 60 day free trial – is talkingaboutkids.com.

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Piper Gibson is a Doctor of Functional Medicine; the Founder of the Tic Disorder Institute: Regenerating Health; and the author of Tic Talk: Common Misconceptions, Natural Approaches, and Real Conversations about Tic Disorders. Piper is on a mission to counter the narrative that we should ignore kids’ motor or vocal tics and hope that they grow out them. Instead, as she and I discuss, Piper argues – and has the research to back it up – that the experiences of kids with tics can be vastly improved by addressing how they are affected by biological factors, environmental conditions, emotions, and physical fitness. More information about Piper, the Tic Disorder Institute, and her book is at talkingaboutkids.com.