At our Stronger Starts Statewide Day of Action event focused on reducing toxic stress in young children and their families, we asked First 5 OC staff to reflect on the ways they create moments of connection around stress in their own homes.
“We are our children’s first teachers. When we exhibit stress, we need to be able to verbalize it just like how we want our children to verbalize their feelings,” said Andrew Montejo. “We can teach our kids how to deal with and manage that stress in a healthy way.”