Subject areas

Glossary

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Key Words
Subject Areas

Item	Definition
Parents	There are many resources available for parents and adults with parenting responsibilities. These are intended to provide supportive answers to a wide variety of parenting questions, recommendations for healthy parenting practices and suggestions for where to find additional resources. Some materials provide quick reference, others are more in-depth. When a resource was written for both parents and a professional audience, it was listed as a parent resource, and given a keyword for professionals.
Children/Youth	Materials included in the section Children/Youth have been selected for young people from birth to age 18; and complement the resources provided for parents.
Professionals	The Professional category indicates materials that have been written for human service providers, educators, medical professionals and others interested in research, or clinical texts. The resources have been chosen to provide background information for those who support others in their parenting role. When a resource was written for both parents and a professional audience, it was listed as a parent resource, and given a keyword for professionals.

Keywords [Back to top]

Item	Definition
Abduction	In this context child abduction, the abduction or kidnapping of a young child (or baby) by an older person.
ADHD/ADD: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder	A syndrome, usually diagnosed in childhood, characterized by a persistent pattern of impulsiveness, a short attention span, and often hyperactivity, and interfering especially with academic, occupational, and social performance. Also called Attention Deficit Disorder.
Adolescent Programs	Structured adolescent programs designed to reach youth (ages 12-17) who are or may be at risk of or experiencing problems with psychiatric illnesses, emotional problems, and/or substance abuse.
Adoption	Procedure by which people legally assume the role of parents for a person who is not their biological child. These children become full members of their adopted family and have the same legal status as biological children. CAUTION: People wishing to explore the possibilities of adoption need to gather information from many different sources and make all of the connections that they can.
Advocacy	To argue in favor of or actively support a cause, idea, or policy; usually initiated by private or non-profit organizations (as opposed to governments).
African-American Children	Refers to children whose cultural references and experience are influenced by their African- American heritage.
Alcoholism	Commonly refers to any condition that results in the continued consumption of alcoholic beverages despite the health problems and negative social consequences it causes.
Allergies	A disorder of the immune system, these allergic reactions are a form of hypersensitivity to environmental substances known as allergens; these reactions are acquired, predictable and rapid.
Anorexia	An eating disorder characterized by unrealistic fear of weight gain, self-starvation, and conspicuous distortion of body image. See also: Eating Disorders, Body Image.
Anxiety	Distress or uneasiness of mind caused by fear of danger or misfortune.
Asthma	An allergic disorder of respiration, characterized by bronchospasm, wheezing, and difficulty in breathing, often accompanied by coughing and a feeling of constriction in the chest.
Autism Spectrum	Autism spectrum disorders (ASD), also called autism spectrum conditions (ASC) or the autism spectrum, are a spectrum of psychological conditions characterized by widespread abnormalities of social interactions and communication, as well as severely restricted interests and highly repetitive behavior. The three main forms of ASD are autism, Asperger syndrome, and Pervasive Developmental Disorder/Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS).
Bedtime	The time at which a person usually goes to bed and the accompanying rituals that are intended to help children feel more secure.
Bipolar Disorder	Bipolar, or manic-depressive disorder, is a mood disorder that causes radical emotional changes and mood swings, from manic highs to depressive lows. The majority of bipolar individuals experience alternating episodes of mania and depression.
Body Image	Essentially a person's body image is how they perceive their exterior to look, and in many cases this can be dramatically different from how they actually appear to others.
Boys	Male children, from birth to full growth, particularly those under 18 years of age.
Brain Development	The capacity of the human brain to control the body’s nervous system, the involuntary regulation of the heart, the lungs and other functions as well as the complex mental activities such as thought, reason and abstraction; covers the interaction between a person's genetically defined potential and his/her environment from conception to adolescence.
Breast Feeding	To feed a baby mother's milk from the breast; to nurse a baby.
Bullying	Bullying is the act of intentionally causing unhappiness to others through verbal harassment, physical assault, or other more subtle methods of coercion such as manipulation.
Child Abuse	Child abuse is the blanket term for four types of child mistreatment: physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect.
Child Abuse Prevention	Efforts to stop child abuse before it occurs, usually through education, awareness and support.
Child Care	Of, relating to, or providing care for children, especially preschoolers, by adult(s) other than the child’s parents and most often outside their own home.
Child Development	Discussing the growth of emotional, intellectual, perceptual, physical and behavioral capabilities and functioning during childhood (prior to puberty). It includes milestones in changing ability in language, symbolic thought, logic, memory, emotional awareness, empathy, a moral sense, and a sense of identity, including sex-role identity.
Child Safety	Efforts to keep a child from harm.
Children with Special Needs	Topics relating to children who have specific needs, such as a physical, social-emotional or behavioral disability.
College	Preparation for or experiencing an adjustment to attending a school, or a university, beyond high school, often requiring moving away from home.
Commercialism	The practices, methods, aims, and spirit of commerce or business, where the value of everything become measured in materialistic terms.
Communication	The exchange of thoughts, messages, or information, as by speech, signals, writing, or behavior.
Community Resources	Community programs, services, and alternatives; also includes local and municipal agencies and government programs provided to assist families and/or individuals.
Counseling Resources	Programs, services and alternatives that provide advice, support and guidance to a person or a family.
Death of a Pet	When a pet dies, the family loses a special friend. Coping with the sense of loss can be overwhelming, these resources can help. See also Grief, Loss, Feelings.
Defiant Children	Children who are disobedient and appear to intentionally disregard direction from adults.
Depression	A psychiatric disorder characterized by an inability to concentrate, insomnia, loss of appetite, feelings of extreme sadness, guilt, helplessness and hopelessness, and thoughts of death.
Diabetes	A metabolic disorder in which a person's blood glucose, or sugar, levels are too high. Insulin is a hormone that helps the glucose get into the cells to give them energy. With Type 1 diabetes, the body does not make insulin. With the more common Type 2 diabetes, the body does not make or use insulin well.
Discipline	Systematic instruction to produce a specific character or a pattern of behavior, especially instruction that produces moral or mental improvement, usually exercised by parents with their own children.
Divorce	A judicial declaration dissolving a marriage in whole or in part, typically one that releases the husband and wife from all matrimonial obligations.
Down's Syndrome	Down syndrome is the most common cause of mental retardation and malformation in a newborn. It occurs because of the presence of an extra chromosome.
Drugs and Alcohol	Refers to problem behavior associated with out of control use of mind or behavior altering drugs and/or alcohol, particularly in pre-adolescents and teens.
Early Literacy	The critical pre-reading skills children need to develop as the foundation to successful comprehension in later years.
Eating Disorders	Any of various psychological disorders, such as anorexia nervosa or bulimia, that involve insufficient or excessive food intake.
Education	The act or process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment, and generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for mature life.
Emotional/Behavioral Challenges	Children’s interactions with people or things in their surroundings that result in a duel or a fight, responses that engage in a contest of wills
Entertainment	The act of entertaining, having fun, enjoyment.
Extended Family	A special group of relations consisting of the immediate family, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.; ways to play a valuable role in the lives of children and their families.
Family Empowerment	A process by which families take responsibility to set and reach their own goals for healthy self-reliance, recognize and build upon their individual strengths, and connect with community programs, skill-building classes and resources.
Family Literacy	Family literacy describes a holistic, fully integrated, family-focused approach, encouraging parents and children to interact while improving their literacy skills as a life long goal.
Family Services	Counseling, financial assistance, housing, and other supports that are basic to family survival, often provided through community non-profit human service agencies or government programs.
Family Structure	Refers to the organization of a group of people who are related by blood, legal relationships or self declaration to a committed relationship. Family structure, in this case, means one or more adults responsible for one or more children.
Family Support	Resources available to members of the family that are offered by the extended family, neighborhood, or community to give aid in time of financial or emotional need, often informal.
Family Violence	Physically or emotionally harmful acts between individuals in families or in intimate relationships. The term family violence covers a wide range of behaviors and includes domestic violence (sometimes referred to as spouse abuse), child abuse, and abuse of the elderly.
Family Violence Prevention	Programs, strategies and interventions intended to keep harmful acts from happening within the family.
Family Welfare	Organized efforts intended to improve the living conditions of a family, refers to families living on low income.
FASD: Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders	A continuum of permanent birth defects (including physical, behavioral, and cognitive) caused by maternal consumption of alcohol during pregnancy, which includes, but is not limited to Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS).
Fatherhood	The state of being a father, and issues of importance to men who are parents.
Feelings	An emotion or emotional perception or attitude.
Finances	Managing monetary resources.
Food	Any nourishing substance that is eaten or drunk to sustain life, provide energy, promote growth.
Foster Homes	Homes in which children are receiving foster care outside their own home by people other than their biological or adoptive parents or legal guardians.
Friendship	Developing a positive bond with another person; social interaction with others.
Games	An activity or sport in which players interact with each other according to a set of rules.
General Parenting	Overall aspects of raising children, of interest to all parents; includes resources that are broad and wide ranging.
General Parenting (Spanish)	Overall aspects of raising children, of interest to all parents; includes resources that are broad and wide ranging (available in Spanish).
Giftedness	Having special talent or ability that sets one apart from their peers.
Girls	Female children from birth to full growth, particularly those under 18 years of age.
Glasses	Also called eyeglasses. Device to compensate for defective vision or to protect the eyes from light, dust, and the like; see Vision.
Grandparents	Parents of one's mother or father; a grandmother or grandfather.
Grief	Keen mental suffering or distress over affliction or loss; sharp sorrow; painful regret.
Grief Resources	Programs, services and alternatives that provide advice and guidance to an individual or family on coping with deep sadness and loss
Health	The general condition of the body or mind with reference to overall well-being, soundness and vigor; freedom from disease.
Hearing	The faculty or sense by which sound is perceived, and related issues of deafness or hard of hearing.
Homelessness	Challenges related to living without a home.
Homeschooling	To teach one's children at home instead of sending them to school.
Hospital	An institution in which sick or injured persons are given medical or surgical treatment.
Incarceration	To imprison; confine.
Infant Development	The term refers to the processes of physical, social emotional and intellectual growth that leads the pre-verbal infant from birth and absolute dependency to the earliest levels of selfhood during the first year of life.
Internet Safety	Efforts to keep a child safe while using the internet (i.e., free from pornography, free from sexual predators, free from other information a parent would deem as harmful).
Justice System	Administering the laws of federal, state and local governments intended to maintain civil order and determine questions of lawfulness.
Latino Children	Children of Hispanic, especially Latin-American, descent, often one living in the United States.
Learning Disabilities	Any of various cognitive, neurological, or psychological disorders that impede the ability to learn, especially one that interferes with the ability to learn mathematics or develop language skills.
Life Transitions	Developmental changes in routine family events such as moving, pregnancy and birth of children, returning to work, and adjustments to events such as separation or divorce, remarriage, blended families, stepparenting, adoption and foster care are included.
Literacy	The quality or state of being able to read and write, particularly in English; as well as the process of learning to become educated.
Loss	The state of being deprived of or of being without something that one has had, as in loss of a pet.
Media Literacy	The process of accessing, analyzing, evaluating and creating messages in a wide variety of media modes, genres and forms.
Mental Retardation	A developmental disability that first appears in children under the age of 18. It is defined as an intellectual functioning level (as measured by standard tests for intelligence quotient) that is well below average and significantly limits daily living skills (adaptive functioning).
Migrant/Immigrant Families	Materials written for parents and their children who are adjusting to American culture and mores are listed here. Topics include celebrations of bi-lingual and bi-cultural practices; stories that honor a family's home culture and more.
Military Families	The family is impacted by the career choice of one or both parents who are actively serving in the armed services, i.e., Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, etc.
Motherhood	The state of being a mother; a female parent and resources written for them.
Moving	Involved in changing the location of possessions, particularly a home or residence, office, etc., and the feelings commonly associated with such a change.
Multi-racial/Bi-racial Families	Resources in this section are for families comprised of different races, cultures, or ethnicities.
Nature	The physical world, the enjoyment and study of the outdoors and creatures living in the wild.
New Baby	A young child recently born.
New York State Agencies	Many state agencies in New York have resource materials on family topics. This collection will help individuals locate state sanctioned publications that can be downloaded or requested free of charge.
Nighttime Fears	Also known as bedtime fears - of the dark, monsters under the bed, and sleeping alone - common among 2 – 10 year olds. These are the years when a child's powers of imagination are exploding, including new and scary things of which to be afraid. At bedtime it can be hard to quiet this imagination and go to sleep.
Nursery Rhymes	Traditional verse or set of verses chanted to infants by adults as an initiation into rhyme and verbal rhythm. Most are hundreds of years old, and derive from songs, proverbs, riddles, ballads, street cries, and other kinds of composition originally intended for adults.
Nutrition	The science of diet and food intake to support life.
Obesity	Having excessive amounts of body fat. The National Institutes of Health considers a person obese when s/he weighs 20% more than their ideal body weight or Body Mass Index (BMI).
OCD: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder	A type of anxiety disorder (i.e., the experience of prolonged, excessive worry about circumstances in one's life), OCD is characterized by distressing repetitive thoughts, impulses or images that are intense, frightening, absurd, or unusual. These thoughts are followed by ritualized actions, or compulsions, that are usually bizarre and irrational but help reduce anxiety caused by the individual's obsessive thoughts. Often described as the "disease of doubt," the sufferer usually knows the obsessive thoughts and compulsions are irrational but, on another level, fears they may be true.
Parent Education	A movement to help parents understand children’s development and behavior. Often combines instruction with support.
Parent Survival Tips	Strategies for parents and other adults interacting with children that are designed to address a specific challenging situation; frequently available as lists, bulleted ideas that can be quickly implemented.
Parenting Skills	Techniques for everyday situations faced by adults raising children from birth through adolescence; specific ideas that parents will find useful in establishing routines and cooperation within their family.
Parents with Special Needs	Resources can be found here for parents in unique circumstances. These may include parenting twins, triplets or more; parenting children with developmental delays; managing autism spectrum disorders or learning disabilities; grieving the loss of a child.
Peer Relations	The quality of interaction one has with others of the same age, grade in school, social group.
Physical Appearance	How we look to others, physical attractiveness, concern over acceptance of external features of the body.
Post Traumatic Stress	A severe and ongoing emotional reaction to an extreme psychological event that may involve someone's actual death or a threat to someone’s life, serious physical injury, or threat to physical and/or psychological integrity, to a degree that usual psychological defenses are incapable of coping. It is important to make a distinction between PTSD and Traumatic stress, which is a similar condition, but of less intensity and duration. The condition has been known as shell shock, traumatic war neurosis or post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSS).
Poverty	The state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support; condition of being poor.
Pregnancy	The state, condition, or quality of having a child developing in a woman’s body.
Problem Solving	A higher order of thinking in which a person identifies a situation that is preventing a positive outcome or behavior and creatively finds a course of action that will change the situation.
Professionals	For the purpose of this website, professionals refers to physicians, nurses and other medical personnel, counselors, human service providers, teachers, early childhood and adult educators among others.
Puberty	The period or age during which a person’s body changes from a child to an adult capable of sexual reproduction of offspring: presumed to be 9-14 years in the male and 8-16 years in the female.
Relationships	A particular type of connection existing between people related to or having dealings with each other.
Relaxation	An activity or recreation that provides relief from stress; diversion from work or responsibility; entertainment.
Runaways	Individuals that have escaped control or proper confinement. Usually refers to a youth that has left home for an extended period of time without a guardian’s permission.
Safety	The state of being safe; freedom from the occurrence or risk of injury, danger, or loss.
Same Sex Parents	Information to support parents who are gay or lesbian and their children.
School	An institution where instruction is given, especially to persons under college age.
Self-Esteem	Pride in oneself; self-respect.
Self-Injury	The act of attempting to alter one's mood state by inflicting physical harm serious enough to cause tissue damage to the body; also called: self-inflicted violence, self-injury, self-harm, para-suicide, delicate cutting, self-abuse, self-mutilation.
Sensory Integration	Sensory Integration Dysfunction (SID, also called sensory processing disorder) is a neurological disorder causing difficulties with processing information from the five classic senses (vision, auditory, touch, smell, and taste), the sense of movement (vestibular system), and/or the positional sense (proprioception).
Sexual Orientation	The direction of one's sexual interest toward members of the same, opposite, or both sexes.
Sexuality	Concern with or interest in sexual activity.
Sibling Rivalry	Competition between children in the same family for parental love, or for some other recognition.
Siblings	One of two or more individuals having one or both parents in common; a brother or sister; especially raising siblings in an environment that promotes peace, cooperation and mutual respect while reducing competition and rivalry.
SIDS: Sudden Infant Death Syndrome	The unexplained death without warning of an apparently healthy infant, usually during sleep.
Sign Language	A language that uses a system of manual, facial, and other body movements as the means of communication, especially among deaf people or a method of communication, as between speakers of different languages, that uses hand movements and other gestures. Also a growing practice of communication between pre-verbal children and their care providers.
Single Parenting	One adult having primary custody of child; parents raising children without a partner.
Skills	Proficiency, facility, or dexterity that is acquired or developed through training or experience.
Sleep	Natural rest; complete or partial suspension of consciousness; cease being awake.
Special Needs	Clinical term to describe individuals who require assistance for disabilities such as medical, mental, or psychological.
Special Population Resources	Support groups, organizations, information designed for individuals who identify as a particular group due to a physical, social-emotional disability or unique life circumstance.
Speech	The faculty or power of speaking; oral communication; ability to express one's thoughts and emotions by speech sounds and gesture.
Speech & Hearing	Addressing issues that combine oral communication with the ability to receive and process sounds.
Sports	Of or pertaining to organized team competitions, especially of the open-air or athletic kind.
Statistical Data	The mathematics of the collection, organization, and interpretation of numerical data, especially the analysis of population characteristics by inference from sampling.
Stepfamilies	Resources for children and adults in step/blended families can be found here.
Strengths	An attribute or quality of particular worth or utility; an asset.
Teen Parenting	Parenting a child while a teen ager (13 to 19 years of age).
Teens	Young people between the ages of 13 through 19.
Toilet Training	The process of weaning a young child off diapers and teaching the child to use the toilet for urination and defecation, usually started and completed between the ages of eighteen months and four years.
Tweens	Youth between the ages of 11-13 year olds.
Twins/Multiples	Relates to the dynamics unique to children born to the same mother at the same time. Resources cover the special considerations of pregnancy and birth to raising these children.
Vaccinations	Vaccination is the use of a modified virus to protect against or prevent specific diseases.
Violence	Physical force exerted for the purpose of violating, damaging, or abusing another.
Vision	The faculty of sight; also the manner in which one sees or conceives of something.
Visual Impairments	Visual impairment or low vision is a severe reduction in vision that can't be corrected with standard glasses or contact lenses and reduces a person's ability to function at certain or all tasks.
Working Parents	Parents who are employed and receive an income from their employment.
Young Children	Children from preschool age (2-3 years) to grade school age (5-6 years).

Subject Areas [Back to top]

Item	Definition
All Kinds of Families	Selections reflect the variety of family constellations that children live in today. Families formed through marriage, raising children born or adopted into the family, extended family relationships including kincare, gay and lesbian couples raising children, foster families, single head of households are represented in stories and resources in this section.
Child Development and Behavior	Typical growth and healthy development of children beginning with pregnancy to young adulthood is included in this section. Those looking for reference material on general growth patterns, gender specific issues, social emotional behavior, cognitive and language development will find a wide variety of materials here.
Child Safety	Focuses on increased awareness of environmental hazards and tips on how to make a child's world physically safe. Safety from abuse, including sexual abuse, and predators are a special emphasis in this section.
Children with Special Needs	Includes resources that deal with identification and treatment of suspected or identified delays, disabilities and disorders, such as autism spectrum disorders including Asperger's, ADHD and learning disabilities, psychological challenges from anxiety to obsessive compulsive and bi-polar disorders. Also found here: information on the special needs of gifted children.
Child's Health	Covers a wide range of issues: physical health (including weight issues, healthy vision and hearing, medication and vaccines, allergies and asthma), sexuality, mental health, nutrition and food including tips on breastfeeding, sports and hospitalization.
Families in Crisis	A limited but growing list of resources to support children and families dealing with some of life's toughest circumstances. Resources cover dealing with death, divorce, violence including domestic violence, and a parent in prison. For additional resources, see: Life Transitions.
Family Empowerment	Addresses taking charge and taking responsibility for self or family in areas as diverse as childbirth and the media; family development skills for adults and children that lead to effective advocacy and consumerism; a variety of issues from a strengths based perspective.
Family Literacy and Lifelong Learning	Resources to encourage a love of books and reading in the context of the family, with several annotated book lists. Also found here are many suggestions for families who are providing home schooling and materials on the media.
Going to School	Resources that support success in formal school settings from pre-school through high school. Materials selected for "Going to School" primarily address the questions of how to prepare children to enter school (and pre-school) ready to learn. Also included are materials that consider the academic challenges children encounter before graduation from high school.
Life Transitions	Developmental changes in routine family events such as moving, pregnancy and birth of children, returning to work, and adjustments to events such as separation or divorce, remarriage, blended families, stepparenting, adoption and foster care are included.
New York State Agencies	A collection of selected New York State agency resources and publications on topics related to parenting, child development and family life.
Peer Relations	Friendship with classmates and others outside the family and with siblings are included here. Materials range from learning social skills in pre-school to managing cliques in middle school; understanding cultural uniqueness as it affects the social lives of children to building strong bonds between brothers and sisters.
Stress and Stress Management	Materials that discuss stressful situations,anxiety and fear of change, loneliness, separation anxieties as well as a collection of materials that provide resources to manage that stress. Related subject areas include Families in Crisis, Going to School, and Life Transitions.
Violence Prevention	Preventing violence begins with building social skills (see Peer Relations) and continues with interventions that address bullying. Related issues such as domestic violence are found in another subject area, Families in Crisis.