A simplified explanation of the brain science of a developing teenage brain is featured in this podcast and in a few other tools on the ParentingMontana.org website. The Montana Department of Health and Human Services and the Center for Health and Safety Culture at Montana State University, who bring you this podcast, felt parents and those in a parenting role should be equipped with the information to have an open discussion with their children about why marijuana can be harmful to the developing brain as well as the other risks. 

Parents are the most important influence in their child’s life, therefore parents play a major role in their teen’s decision to use marijuana. Parents, you can greatly reduce repercussions of marijuana on your teen’s brain development if you can discourage use. This podcast equips you with information to have essential conversations with your child. You can help prevent the immediate and long term risks associated with teenage marijuana use and its harm to the brain.

As a parent or someone in a parenting role, you make a lot of decisions about what is acceptable or not acceptable for your child/teen regarding marijuana use. Knowing the laws and ordinances in your community and state can help you make informed decisions about what is best for your child/teen. But, even if something is legal, it may not be safe for your child/teen. As a parent, you are key to helping your child prevent harm associated with marijuana and other substances.

This podcast, as part of ParentingMontana.org, explores the marijuana laws specific to Montana and discusses scenarios that you, as a parent or someone in a parenting role, might encounter. The Montana Department of Health and Human Services partnered with the Center for Health and Safety Culture at Montana State University to create tools and resources for the parents in Montana. Most of the content on ParentingMontana.org is relevant to parents everywhere, but this podcast is specific to marijuana laws in Montana. So, if you are a parent in Montana, listen now to learn about the current laws around marijuana use for youth and adults.

This podcast has information to equip you, as a parent or someone in a parenting role, to have conversations about marijuana and the importance of not using it during the teenage years. It explores reasons to be concerned about marijuana use, consequences of marijuana use, and specific strategies you can implement to encourage your child not to use marijuana. This is brought to you as part of ParentingMontana.org from The Montana Department of Health and Human Services and the Center for Health and Safety Culture at Montana State University.

The teen brain goes through a significant development and maturation process until the mid twenties. During this vulnerable time for the developing brain, marijuana use can significantly impact the structure and function of the developing brain, and some of the impacts can be long lasting. By avoiding marijuana, youth can greatly reduce these negative impacts. Listen now to learn how you as a parent or someone in a parenting role are key to helping your child prevent harm associated with marijuana.

There are warning signs and symptoms if your child/teen is using marijuana or other drugs. This podcast walks through the physical, behavioral, and psychological signs that may indicate your child is using drugs. You will be able to identify some of the signs and have some guidance to walk you through the conversations you could have and the steps you could take to help your child.

This supportive information is brought to you as part of the parenting website, ParentingMontana.org, from The Montana Department of Health and Human Services and the Center for Health and Safety Culture at Montana State University. While ParentingMontana.org is a wealth of tools and resources created for Montana parents, the content is applicable to parents everywhere. Listen now if you are concerned that your child/teen might be using drugs, and see how you can work with your child/teen to uncover core issues and appropriate ways to address them.

Fortunately, children who have experienced traumatic events can recover and flourish. Creating safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments for children can buffer against the effects of negative experiences and help children thrive. As a parent or someone in a parenting role, your support and guidance matter greatly and you can find  help on ParentingMontana.org. Learning about child trauma and how it can affect your child will help you support your child. It will help your child feel safe and manage their strong and sometimes overwhelming feelings and behaviors while building a healthy parent-child relationship. 

This podcast provides an overview of how a child’s brain responds to stress, the impact of child trauma on health and wellbeing, and reactions to trauma at various stages of child development. This podcast also provides guidance for the actions you can take to support your child after they have experienced a traumatic event and what you can do to help your child manage challenging behaviors. Finally, as a parent or someone in a parenting role, your child’s trauma affects you as well. While caring for and supporting your child through their difficult moments, it is vital to take care of yourself. Guidance on specific actions to care for yourself with compassion are provided. The Montana Department of Health and Human Services partnered with the Center for Health and Safety Culture at Montana State University to promote healthy mental, emotional, and behavioral development through the tools on ParentingMontana.org like the one available to you in this podcast.

Managing your feelings in healthy ways when your infant cries is essential. Finding healthy ways to calm yourself models how to manage big feelings for your infant. Your infant can sense when you are upset and when you are calm. Your infant is learning about their world through their relationship with you. When you manage your feelings in healthy ways you are building trust between you and your infant. You are also providing foundational experiences that allow your infant to learn to predict how you will respond, and this has a calming effect on your infant’s brain.

This podcast, from the creators of ParentingMontana.org, talks about ways a new parent can soothe their infant when they are crying as well as ways to recognize and manage their own exhaustion, frustration, and overwhelming feelings when their infant is crying. Montana Department of Health and Human Services and the Center for Health and Safety Culture at Montana State University are striving to equip parents with the tools and skills necessary to parent infants to teens with the mental, emotional, and behavioral development for success.  Listen here for tips on how to soothe your crying infant and manage your own emotions as you respond to their needs.

From examining your personal reasons for wanting to become a foster parent to all of the emotional, environmental, organizational, financial, social, familial, and legal considerations, deciding to become a foster parent is a decision that requires a lot of thoughtful reflection. ParentingMontana.org has resources tailored to foster parents, and this initial consideration is just the first step.

This podcast is brought to you by a partnership between Montana Department of Health and Human Services and the Center for Health and Safety Culture at Montana State University. Their goal is to promote healthy mental, emotional, and behavioral development of children through the tools on ParentingMontana.org, and supporting parents of children in the foster care system is one very important way. The decision to become a family who fosters a child is a big life-changing choice; listen now and ask yourself some crucial questions as you consider becoming a foster parent.

When the day comes that you receive a call from a child protection specialist and you say “Yes,” you can be prepared with help from this podcast and the tools and resources from ParentingMontana.org. The Montana Department of Health and Human Services partnered with the Center for Health and Safety Culture at Montana State University to help support parents and those in a parenting role in the many stages of their parenting journey. 

Taking the time to prepare for a child in foster care will help you and the child transition more smoothly and be better equipped to handle any struggles you may face. Equipping yourself and your household with a flexible and resilient mindset, open and invested hearts, and a readiness to share your space will help you prepare. Listen now for ideas about how to also help prepare your extended family and friends as well.

The Montana Department of Health and Human Services partnered with the Center for Health and Safety Culture at Montana State University to bring you this helpful reflection of what the first few days and weeks may be and feel like, from ParentingMontana.org. From the range of emotions you both will feel to some behaviors you may encounter, parents and those in a parenting role who make the important choice to welcome a child in foster care will benefit from this guidance.

The first 24 hours, the first week, and the first six weeks after having a child in foster care join your family can be exciting as well as stressful. Listen now for tips and guidance to help you navigate this new transition and ease stress so you feel confident and ready to provide a loving home and experience for a child in foster care.

A child care provider plays many roles in your child’s day. From nurturer to teacher and role model, the child care provider that you choose will have a major impact on your child’s development. The ParentingMontana.org website is all about promoting the healthy development of children through their parents and those who play a parenting role throughout their lives. In conjunction with that website, Montana Department of Health and Human Services partnered with the Center for Health and Safety Culture at Montana State University to bring you this important information about selecting a child care provider.

Child care options vary from area to area, so parents should first identify the options available to you. Then you can narrow your list by filtering through a list of questions. The podcast walks you through an extensive list of considerations, and even highlights some ways to help prepare your child for their transition to child care once a child care provider has been selected. This will ease the process and increase your confidence in selecting the right provider for your child.

This podcast from the creators of the parenting website, ParentingMontana.org, shows parents how logical consequences can help teach responsible decision-making skills without having to invent consequences when their children behave unsafely or inappropriately. Logical consequences are the natural outcomes that result from a child’s actions with others or with property. Following through on logical consequences means that the adult guides the child to take responsibility for any harm caused or damage done. The intent is to teach your child that every action has a reaction.

The Montana Department of Health and Human Services partnered with the Center for Health and Safety Culture at Montana State University to bring you this podcast to help parents teach their children to take the next steps to fix what is broken or hurt when a poor choice has been made or a rule has been broken. Listen now and see how with a parent’s ongoing commitment to follow through on logical consequences, a child will learn to think through consequences and thereby strengthen their decision-making skills.

As a parent or someone in a parenting role, you make a lot of decisions about what is acceptable or not acceptable for your child/teen regarding alcohol use. Knowing the underage drinking laws and ordinances in your community and state can help you make informed decisions about what is best for your child/teen. As a parent, you are key to helping your child prevent harm associated with alcohol.

This podcast, as part of ParentingMontana.org, explores the underage drinking laws specific to Montana and discusses scenarios that you, as a parent or someone in a parenting role, might encounter. The Montana Department of Health and Human Services partnered with the Center for Health and Safety Culture at Montana State University to create tools and resources for the parents in Montana. Most of the content on ParentingMontana.org is relevant to parents everywhere, but this podcast is specific to underage drinking laws in Montana. So, if you are a parent in Montana, listen now to learn about the current laws around underage drinking for youth and adults.

Each time a child chooses an unsafe or inappropriate behavior is an opportunity to teach a vital life skill and cultivate a sense of responsibility. This is how ParentingMontana.org can be so helpful to parents and those in a parenting role -- the website is full of tools, resources, and examples of how parents can build these skills in their children. The Montana Department of Health and Human Services and the Center for Health and Safety Culture at Montana State University bring you ParentingMontana.org and this podcast as a way to bolster your child’s social and emotional skill development through guidance and discipline for skill building.

Four key strategies in this podcast guide you through helping your child understand their feelings and grow new skills and behaviors to replace unsafe or inappropriate ones. Those strategies are: identifying unmet needs and your child’s feelings, modeling the skills, focusing on decision making, and intentionally practicing. The skills you and your child build through guidance and discipline for skill building are associated with positive life outcomes such as academic success, emotional wellbeing, and improved work performance

There are many resources and options for help available if you suspect your child/teen is drinking alcohol. ParentingMontana.org is a website created to help parents and those in a parenting role raise their children with the social and emotional skills shown to be protective against underage drinking. The Montana Department of Health and Human Services and the Center for Health and Safety Culture at Montana State University bring you this podcast and the ParentingMontana.org website to support parents through the tough times while simultaneously bolstering their social and emotional skills and their children’s. 

If you notice signs and symptoms of a drinking problem in your child/teen, this podcast walks you  through steps you can take with your child/teen to have those tough conversations, address your concerns, understand your child’s/teen’s feelings, and help them take healthy steps to move forward. Listen now for more guidance on how to talk through this issue with your child/teen and for places you can reach out to for some extra support.

A simplified explanation of the brain science of a developing teenage brain is featured in this podcast and in a few other tools on the ParentingMontana.org website. The Montana Department of Health and Human Services and the Center for Health and Safety Culture at Montana State University, who bring you this podcast, felt parents and those in a parenting role should be equipped with the information to have an open discussion with their children about why alcohol can be harmful to the developing brain as well as the other risks. 

Parents are the most  important influence in their child’s life, therefore parents play a major role in their teen’s decision to drink alcohol. Parents, you can greatly reduce repercussions of alcohol on your teen’s brain development if you can delay the age at which your teen initiates alcohol use. This podcast equips you with information to have essential conversations with your child. You can help prevent the immediate and long term risks associated with teenage alcohol use and it’s harm to the brain.

This podcast has information to equip you, as a parent or someone in a parenting role, to have conversations about alcohol and the importance of delaying alcohol until 21. It explores reasons to be concerned about alcohol use, consequences of alcohol use, and specific strategies you can implement to encourage your child to delay alcohol use. This is brought to you as part of ParentingMontana.org from The Montana Department of Health and Human Services and the Center for Health and Safety Culture at Montana State University.

The teen brain goes through a significant maturation process until the mid twenties. During this vulnerable time for the developing brain, alcohol use can significantly impact the structure and function of the developing brain, and some of the impacts can be long lasting. By delaying the initiation of alcohol use, youth can greatly reduce these negative impacts. Listen now to learn how you as a parent or someone in a parenting role are key to helping your child prevent harm associated with alcohol.

Children are more likely than adults to take risks because different parts of their brain are maturing at different times. Unfortunately, without guidance, children and teens can take risks that result in serious and long-term consequences like substance use, speeding, unprotected sex, and texting while driving.  Providing children and teens with healthy options for risk taking offers the thrill that they are seeking with minimal negative consequences. Healthy risk taking can reduce the likelihood of unhealthy risk taking.

Montana Department of Health and Human Services partnered with the Center for Health and Safety Culture at Montana State University to bring you this podcast on how to promote and provide opportunities for healthy risk taking for your child. Children learn by interacting with you. Engage your child in a conversation and hear their point of view. Ongoing conversations between you and your child that include discussions about healthy and unhealthy risk taking are one more way you can strengthen your relationship and improve your child’s decision making skills

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends developmental screenings when your child is 9 months, 18 months, and 30 months, or anytime you have a concern about your child’s development. ParentingMontana.org has information, resources, and links to specific developmental screening supports. Montana Department of Health and Human Services and the Center for Health and Safety Culture at Montana State University created ParentingMontana.org to support parents in Montana, but the website is relevant to parents everywhere. The goal of the website is to provide parents with information and tools to promote healthy mental, emotional, and behavioral development in children.

Developmental screenings provide information about how your child is developing based on age appropriate developmental milestones. Physical, language, communication, cognitive, and social and emotional milestones are all components of healthy child development and an important part of your child’s healthcare. Listen here for more information about why developmental screenings are important and how they can assist you in getting proper help if your child needs a little extra support in their development.

A parent’s role in shaping your child’s development evolves as your child matures. The ways you support an infant are different than the ways you support a teen. Adjusting your responses to meet your child’s needs at each stage of development is important. As your child ages, it is not just their physical needs that change, but their cognitive, social, and emotional needs develop and change as well. This means that as a parent or one in a parenting role, you are continually adapting your skills to meet the changing needs of your child.

ParentingMontana.org, the website from Montana Department of Health and Human Services and the Center for Health and Safety Culture at Montana State University, has tools and resources to help parents meet the evolving needs of their children. This podcast is a tool that walks parents through some of the different things they can do as their child develops to guard against risk  factors like substance use.

Social and emotional skills are often learned through modeling, as children watch their parents or those in a parenting role practice and model self-awareness and self-management skills or express empathy. This podcast, as part of ParentingMontana.org, walks parents through how they can build these skills in their children. The Montana Department of Health and Human Services partnered with the Center for Health and Safety Culture at Montana State University to create tools and resources to support parents as they seek to develop their children’s social and emotional skills and build meaningful parent/child relationships.

Listen now to learn how social and emotional development is the process of learning skills to understand and manage how people act, how they relate to others, and how they make responsible choices. These skills include being able to understand and control emotions, understand and care about others, and make good decisions. Learn how these skills can lead to improved health and wellbeing outcomes for your child that span the lifespan.

Through intentional parenting, parents and those in a parenting role grow strong social and emotional skills in their children. Studies show that when children experience things such as harsh or abusive parenting or being in an unsafe environment, it has a negative impact on their brain development. This can result in mental, physical, and behavioral issues in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. That is why ParentingMontana.org is bringing this important podcast to you today -- to show parents an approach where you can adjust your strategies to meet the developmental needs of your child and simultaneously enhance your relationship.

The Montana Department of Health and Human Services partnered with the Center for Health and Safety Culture at Montana State University to bring you the tools in ParentingMontana.org  and this podcast, which seek to foster safe, stable, and nurturing parent-child relationships. You can develop your child’s social and emotional skills no matter what age they are. Regardless of your child’s age, now is the time to be involved. Listen to how you can make a difference now and into your child’s future!

Learning to navigate high conflict situations can help you model the behaviors you are teaching your children, grow your social and emotional skills, grow your child’s social and emotional skills, and ultimately do what is in your child’s best interest. The Montana Department of Health and Human Services partnered with the Center for Health and Safety Culture at Montana State University to bring you this podcast as part of ParentingMontana.org, their successful parenting website. Managing relationships is a large part of the social and emotional skills promoted on ParentingMontana.org and, of course, the focus of this podcast.

If conflict is a source of stress for you or your child, this podcast will help you sort through these situations and offer some ideas for actions you can take to either try and preserve the relationship or perhaps let it go. You will see that either of these choices is okay as long as your goal in high conflict situations is to ultimately do what is in your child’s best interest.

This podcast provides guidance for parents and those in a parenting role on navigating this challenge and, in the process, building yours and your child’s life skills. ParentingMontana.org is the parenting website created by The Montana Department of Health and Human Services and the Center for Health and Safety Culture at Montana State University. ParentingMontana.org and podcasts like this offer support for parents on a large range of parenting topics and situations, each with a focus on bolstering social and emotional skills.

It is likely, in creating a supportive network for your child, that you will encounter important people who have different ideas about parenting your child than you do. Throughout this podcast, you’ll hear how you can build your skills to work through these differences, maintain a positive relationship with the important people in your child’s life, and ultimately do what is in your child’s best interest.

Intentional communication grows the brain by creating a safe space for learning. It encourages curiosity from your child rather than defensiveness. Intentional communication teaches and models an effective communication approach that has broad application in many areas of your life and your child’s life. Intentional communication fosters a sense of ownership in the communication because it is participatory, more relevant, and meaningful.

ParentingMontana.org provides parents and those in a parenting role examples of how to build important social and emotional skills in their children while engaging in meaningful conversations. Intentional communication is a key way of growing social and emotional skills. This podcast is one of many from The Montana Department of Health and Human Services and the Center for Health and Safety Culture at Montana State University promoting the development of a range of social and emotional skills.

The parenting process includes five steps that parents and those in a parenting role can use with their child at every age: Get Input, Teach, Practice, Support, and Recognize. You can begin slowly by choosing one issue or task on which to practice using this process. For many, using the parenting process is a new way of interacting. Be patient with yourself and keep practicing. This way of interacting with your child takes practice. It is through practice that skills are learned and strengthened.

ParentingMontana.org provides parents and those in a parenting role with a process and tools to raise their children to be confident, respectful, and to make healthy choices. The Montana Department of Health and Human Services partnered with the Center for Health and Safety Culture at Montana State University to promote healthy mental, emotional, and behavioral development through ParentingMontana.org and the resources available to you like this podcast. The parenting process will help you interact with your child, teach them skills, allow them to practice, support their learning, and recognize their effort. And most importantly, you will intentionally build a positive relationship with your child.

Helpful Links

https://parentingmontana.org/ 

https://parentingmontana.org/parenting-process-for-your-childs-success/

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