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Parenting With a Kind Mind: Exploring Kindness as a Potentiator for Enhanced Brain Health

A mother and child reading in a cozy tent with hanging lights.

Frontiers in Psychology

Maria Teresa Johnson, Julie M. Fratantoni, Kathleen Tate and Antonia Solari Moran

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Overview

This scholarly article details the pilot study Kind Minds With Moozie, which examines the impact of digitally-delivered, self-paced brain science education and kindness activities on resilience and empathy in parents and preschool-aged children. A cross-disciplinary team of researchers from the Center for BrainHealth at The University of Texas at Dallas adapted Moozie Teaches Kindness, a curriculum focused on nurturing kindness and pro-social behaviors in parents of preschoolers, to investigate how an interactive, parent-child kindness intervention can enhance brain health. After four weeks of online training, researchers compared pre- and post-study measurements, based upon validated measures for resilience and child empathy levels. Results indicate a whole group increase in resilience among parents and children, supporting the hypothesis that engaging in kind behaviors can be effective in making parents more resilient, especially after periods of social isolation, like those experienced during COVID-19.

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Maria Johnson, MA, CCC-SLP

Director, Youth and Family Innovations Lead Research Clinician and Trainer, Charisma Virtual Social Coaching


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