In Dr. Christina Cipriano’s article Dear parents: Don’t just tell your kids not to ‘stare’ at mine, Cipriano discusses how parents can model humanity to their children by encouraging them to embrace the differences of others by learning together. Dr. Cipriano currently serves as the Assistant Professor of Applied Developmental and Educational Psychology at the Yale Child Study Center and Director of Research at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. In 2011 Cipriano received her Ph.D. in Applied Developmental and Educational Psychology, from the Lynch School of Education & Human Development. Her research focuses on social and emotional learning to promote optimal developmental outcomes for traditionally marginalized student and teacher populations.
Published in The Washington Post, this article focuses on the approaches in which parents can model humanity to their children while highlighting a parent-child interaction with her son Miles, who has a rare genetic disorder named Phelan-McDermid Syndrome. When the pandemic made the world around us smaller, Cipriano was surprised by the staring toward her family. She suggests that parents can be an example for their children by introducing open-ended questions, or starting inviting conversations such as ‘I see you’re staring. What questions do you have?’ or ‘My child is curious to learn about you and your bike. This is his name, and he likes to ride his bike, too’. Cipriano advises well-intentioned parents to lean into the staring and teach their children how to embrace the differences of others by learning together.
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Dr. Christina Ciprano shares a birthday celebration with her family.