DFX Parent Connections Newsletter February 2021 Information to help parents and caregivers help children thrive!

The purpose of this newsletter is to regularly share with you knowledge about interactions and relationships with children.  We will also share videos, social stories, resources, and webinars to support your parenting journey!

Our Hopeful Mouse-Birds Have Arrived!

Just in time to battle the WINTER BLAHS, DFX's Hopeful Mouse-Birds have arrived to brighten our days! This flock of handcrafted clay birds will be nesting at Developmental FX for the winter months.   At Developmental FX, we are always seeking to find the best ways to help our friends explore their roles in interpersonal relationships, and our Hopeful Mouse-Birds will give us a fun way to think about empathy and nurturing. Parents, we hope you will join us as we engage your children with this hope- and care-infused project. Your engagement might just chase away some covid-blues! Together with our therapists, we'll invite our clients to help care for and nurture these birds in the upcoming months.  PLAY in all of its forms allows children to experience a range of emotions and get to practice how to notice others, how to read their emotions, and most of all how to act in relation to the world around them. We hope that our Hopeful Mouse-Birds will help your spirits take flight as we share this project together! DFX is working to create systemic change by establishing a culture of inclusion and engaged belonging in which children of all abilities and backgrounds can thrive. We do this by providing transformative, child-centered care for our clients and their families, and through research and advocacy. We'll share current opportunities to engage in advocacy in this space. Please let us know if you would like more specific information about how you can participate or click on the images below to visit the organizations' websites. NFXF Advocacy Day will be held virtually this year on Wednesday, Feb 24, and there is a live, online training session on Friday, Feb 19. THANK YOU TO THE NATIONAL FRAGILE X FOUNDATION for leading the Advocacy Day efforts! The focus of this day is to raise awareness of Fragile X among members of Congress and to ask them to support research, policies, and programs that will benefit those affected by Fragile X. You can participate in this online day of advocacy and share your stories with members of Congress! March is Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month! #DDAwareness2021

Here's the Journey our Flock will Take with Us! Step One: We Created the Birds Our beloved retired co-founder, Mouse Scharfenaker, donated her time and materials to help our team create these birds from start to finish. We met in the backyard on a warm January afternoon to shape clay into whimsical birds. Mouse then glazed and fired the clay birds, and delivered our beautiful flock to DFX on February 10th! Thank you, Mouse, for caring about DFX and sharing your talents to teach us how to create the birds! Step Two: We'll Explore Caring and Nurturing Families- this step is where we invite you to join us in maximizing the positive impact of this special initiative! Play, talk about, get curious, and engage with your children and the Hopeful Mouse-Birds!  Maybe you would like to care for a bird for a few days? Donate some materials to our new aviary? Our creativity is our only boundary--will we create nests? Bird seed crafts? Play hide and seek? Let our birds spread their wings in the park? We can’t wait to find out how you show you care! Send us photos and stories of how your family is nurturing your new little friend. Step Three: Our Hopeful Mouse-Birds will migrate to our garden At the end of March, we will collect the birds and install them in the first ever “Hopeful Birds Totem” in our garden. We will savor the fun and exploration our birds have provided, and we will start to plan ahead for when a new flock of birds descends upon us next February. "Kindness Is My Superpower" by Alicia Ortego A children's book about Empathy, Kindness, and Compassion Share this video with your little ones! You can learn more about Rita Vail and how she started the Hopeful Birds Project on their website, or in this article from the Daily Camera.

Share Your Story

Visit our website

Donate to DFX

Please consider sharing your story with us - let us know how working with DFX has impacted your family and how else we can help you.  You can support us by making a contribution, becoming a monthly donor, and designating DFX as your preferred charity on Amazon Smile. Your donation will help DFX continue our work to engage the children, families, and communities we serve and empower them with life-changing resources so that they can reach their fullest potential. Thank you!