Family Conversations: Spring Series

Talk with experts and other families about raising kids during a pandemic.

Our new Family Conversations series is a way to get together to discuss a few of the most pressing issues parents are facing today: COVID-19, learning loss, and the social and emotional health of children. We’ll lean on expert doctors and educators to lead the conversation over the course of three virtual meetups.

Join one or join them all!

Friday, March 5th

New COVID-19 Updates for Families

It’s a new year, with lots of hope on the horizon for the evolution of the pandemic. But there’s still much to understand as we head into a season of vaccinations, schools reopening, virus variants, and more. Join us to get the latest information on COVID-19 from our medical advisors, Dr. Joelle Simpson and Dr. Tress Goodwin, who are pediatric emergency physicians with expertise in disaster medicine.

Friday, March 12th

Help Your Child Bridge the Pandemic Learning Gap

It’s hard to say definitively how the Covid-19 crisis has impacted learning, because … we’ll, we’re still in it! But our education experts, Kate Jordan-Downs and Taunya Banta, share an honest look at what you can do to help boost your child’s learning. We’ll also talk about the expert ways our teachers and staff help kids stay on track with learning in our centers. Join us!

Friday, March 19th

Expert Strategies for Easing Your Child’s Anxieties

If Covid-19 is putting stress on your family, join this session with our education experts, Kate Jordan-Downs and Taunya Banta. Discussion topics will help you understand how stress shows up in kids—from unwanted behaviors like hitting or biting, to new habits like hair twirling. No matter what your child is going through, we’ll help you identify and offer the emotional support they crave.

About our expert panelists and moderators:

Joelle Simpson, MD, MPH, FAAP, is a pediatric emergency medicine physician at Children's National and medical director for Emergency Preparedness. She also serves as incident commander for its Emergency Department COVID-19 response and is an executive committee member of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Council on Children and Disasters.

Tress Goodwin, MD, is an adult and pediatric emergency physician at Children's National and United Medical Center in Washington, D.C. She is a U.S. Navy veteran and served a deployment in Afghanistan. Dr. Goodwin is the assistant medical director for Emergency Preparedness and the assistant incident commander for the Emergency Department COVID-19 response.

Sarah Redgrave is the Vice President of Center Operations for KinderCare Education and is instrumental in helping create exceptional experiences for families and teachers at more than 2,400 accredited learning centers and sites across the U.S. Since March 2020, she’s been overseeing the COVID-19 response practices which are setting the standard for health and safety in the child care industry.

Taunya Banta is Manager of Inclusion Services for KinderCare, where she works with approximately 2,400 centers and sites nationwide creating inclusive learning environments. Throughout her career, Taunya has supported families from diverse backgrounds in her roles as a classroom teacher, coach/trainer, speaker at industry conferences, and author. In addition to her experience in early childhood and elementary education, Taunya is certified in Trauma Informed Care, Psychological First Aid and Human Centered Design.

Kate Jordan-Downs began her career 18 years ago as a middle school inclusion teacher, helping non-traditional learners reach their full potential. After earning her master's in early childhood: Inclusion Education, Curriculum, and Instruction, she is now a fierce advocate for inclusive early childhood education as the Senior Director of Education at KinderCare Education. Her work has revolutionized the inclusion services team and made their offering a key differentiator in the child care sector.

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