Under the Cupola: A Stepping Stones Museum for Children Podcast

You've read the stories. You've heard the news. It's never been more important to support the mental health and wellbeing of our children and families.  But where do you turn if you suspect your child needs professional mental health support? How do you get your child the help they need?  Join us for this episode of the Stepping Stones Museum for Children ‘s Under the Cupola podcast as Dr. Gail Melanson, Executive Director of the Mid Fairfield County Community Care Center, provides expert strategies to empower parents and caregivers to play a leading role in their children's mental health and wellbeing.

It is said that a child's smile is the most beautiful thing in the world, but it takes work to keep it that way! The ongoing pandemic changed many things about our lives including our children's dental habits and the ability to access regular dental care for them. “Significant negative effects on children's oral health” is one result of this pandemic reported by pediatric dentists. In this latest episode of Stepping Stones Museum for Children's “Under the Cupola” podcast, Star 99.9's Kevin Begley and Robert Townes, the museum's Director of Public Affairs, are joined by Dr. Katherine Fleming, an Assistant Professor of Pediatric Dentistry at UConn's School of Dental Medicine to talk about the important things that we need to know to get our children's smiles back on track. Please join us for a compelling conversation about why the time is now to get our kids back in the dental chair. For more information about the University of Connecticut's School of Dental Medicine, please visit dentalmedicine.uconn.edu.

Any time parents are concerned with their child's development or behavior or receive a special needs diagnosis, they are left with more questions than answers. Why isn't my child speaking? Or reading? Why are they hitting other kids? How do we get the help and services our child needs to succeed? How do we navigate the conversations this diagnosis will spark with our family, friends, school district and others? In this latest episode of Stepping Stones Museum for Children's “Under the Cupola” podcast, Star 99.9‘s Kevin Begley and Robert Townes, the museum's Director of Public Affairs, are joined by Eve Kessler and Janine Kelly, two local moms who found themselves in this exact scenario: When their children were diagnosed years ago, those answers were not always readily available and they felt alone in dealing with the important decisions that had to be made. Today, Eve, and Janine, along with their partner Carolina Corrigan, are leaders within SPED*NET, the Special Education Network of Wilton, a non-profit organization that works tirelessly to build an informative, welcoming community to help parents and caregivers learn “everything they wish they had known when they knew something was wrong with their children.” Please join us for a compelling conversation about raising children with special needs and how best to deal with a suspected or confirmed diagnosis.    For more information about SPED*NET Wilton and its programs, please visit spednetwilton.org.

On this very special episode of Stepping Stones Museum for Children's “Under the Cupola” podcast, Star 99.9‘s Kevin Begley is joined by Robert Townes, Director of Public Affairs at Stepping Stones. Their guest is Scarlett Lewis, whose son Jesse Lewis was one of 20 students and six educators tragically killed during the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012. In the wake of one of the worst tragedies in Connecticut and, in our nation's history, Scarlett was inspired by Jesse's heroic actions in the last moments of his life to start the Choose Love Movement. Scarlett shares Jesse's message about nurturing, healing love and discusses the positive impacts the movement has had on people around the country ever since. Please join us to hear about the importance of social and emotional health in our society and how you can implement the Choose Love Movement in your own life. If you are interested in more information about the Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement and its programs, please visit www.chooselovemovemenet.org.  

In this episode, Kevin Begley is joined by Jocelyn Cohen & Scott Graves from the Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research Foundation. Accessibility, inclusion, empathy and adventure have always fueled our mission at Stepping Stones Museum for Children. Listen as Jocelyn and Scott share their inspirational stories and all the ways you can help support those living with CP. They also tell us all about their exciting event this month, STEPTEMBER! Link to transcript for audio accessibility: https://bit.ly/CPARFxUnderTheCupolaTranscript

Stepping Stones Museum for children is synonymous with play-based learning and fun for kids ten and under, but did you know that it also offers an award-winning program for tweens and teens? In this episode of the museum's “Under the Cupola” podcast, learn more about their Yes-Two program and listen as participants talk about the positive, life-shaping impacts that Yes-Two has had on their lives. Find the “Under the Cupola” podcast wherever you get your podcasts!

In this episode, Robert Townes speaks with Kim and Stew Leonard Jr., who turned their own devastating experience with drowning into a family crusade to teach water safety and help kids learn to swim through the Stew Leonard Three Water Safety Foundation. In the discussion, they highlight water safety tips, speak about the amazing local and national impact of their Foundation, tell us about the Stewie the Duck character that they've developed to help young children understand these lifesaving lessons and so much more.

In this episode, Robert meets with the Triangle Community Center, a LGBTQ+ resource center based in Norwalk, CT, to discuss how to be an ally for LGBTQ+ youth and children who are just beginning their identity exploration.

In this episode, Robert Townes, our Director of Public Relations, sits down with Margie Gillis, President and Founder of Literacy How, and Sarah Sormillion, Director of our ELLI preschool and pre-kindergarten programs. Together, they discuss how you can determine when your child is ready for preschool or kindergarten, how the pandemic may have impacted our youngest learners and much more.

In our first episode of “Under the Cupola,” Robert Townes, our Director of Public Affairs, talks to Dr. Craig Bailey, Director of Early Childhood at the Yale Center of Emotional Intelligence and Assistant Professor at the Yale Child Study Center, discuss some of the emotional challenges that children and families have dealt with while navigating the COVID-19 pandemic and how parents and caregivers can help children cope this emotional strain. A researcher with experience as an early childhood educator, Dr. Bailey is a co-developer of the evidence-based RULER approach to social and emotional learning.

'Under the Cupola: A Stepping Stones Museum for Children Podcast' will launch March 29, 2021! Stay tuned for more episodes