The “Ready, Set, School!” workshop, held on Saturday, August 3, was a tremendous success. It drew parents from the LMU community, LMU Children’s Center, and surrounding neighborhoods. The event offered invaluable insights into how parents can help their young children learn to regulate their emotions, an essential skill for a smooth transition to school.
Led by LMU’s Applied Child Developmental Psychology Core professors—Alexandra Sturm, Diana Santacrose, and Maria Pizzano—the workshop covered the development of emotion regulation skills and provided practical, research-based strategies to build emotion regulation skills at home. “Parents are already working so hard to support their kids. We wanted to give them simple strategies based in science to make the school transition just a little bit easier,” said Alex Sturm. Parents learned how to support their child’s ability to identify and manage social and emotional needs and effectively ask for help. Parents also had the opportunity to practice and reflect on these techniques and ask plenty of questions.
“As a new parent, community is so important. I am constantly seeking information and guidance on parenting practices. Joining an event like this, hosted by faculty experts, and reflecting on our parenting goals and practices was grounding, refreshing, and inspiring. Not only that, I got to see my colleagues in action, benefit from their (very relevant) research and expertise, and observe the talented contributions of our undergraduate students who serve as research assistants (and doubled to provide childcare during the event),” said Lauren Sinclair, a parent and assistant dean in the LMU Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts (BCLA), “I’ve already started implementing strategies I learned at the workshop, like communicating clearly and proactively with my child and identifying early indicators of dysregulation (mine and my child’s). I can’t say enough good about this resource provided to parents in the community. I am grateful!”
A standout feature of the workshop was the active involvement of undergraduate students in its planning and execution. “The workshop was a unique opportunity for undergraduate students to practice reviewing the science of emotion regulation and disseminating evidence-based approaches via community engagement, a valuable skill in and outside the classroom,” said Maria Pizzano. Seven LMU psychology undergraduate students (Angie Matar ’25, Ava Nariman ’25, Sadie Dunphy ’25, Camryn Joseph ’25, Gigi Truon ’26, and Emily Weirick ’25) worked closely alongside Professors Sturm, Santacrose, and Pizzano, helping to design a comprehensive presentation, distilling hundreds of research articles into user-friendly worksheets, and even providing free childcare for attendees. Their contributions underscored the opportunities in BCLA to partner with faculty on projects and initiatives that have real-world impact. “In BCLA at LMU, undergraduate students are able to contribute to research projects in a way that would typically be reserved for graduate students at larger institutions. Through these experiences, LMU students learn more, see their impact on the world, and dream bigger for their futures as a result,” said Alex Sturm.
Angie Matar ’25 reflected, “Working on the emotion regulation workshop has been a gift in more ways than one. First, I was able to fully dive into an area of psychology that I find fascinating. Also, learning about emotion regulation has impacted the way I interact with others. I am now more conscious of how and why someone can struggle to regulate their emotions, and I have more tools to help support them. For example, in my role as a Resident Advisor for Student Housing, I use the emotion regulation techniques I learned to create a supportive and thoughtful environment for my residents.”
The workshop was a valuable resource for parents in the community, empowering parents with actionable knowledge to support their child’s emotional and social development. Encouraged by positive feedback and a burgeoning partnership with the LMU Children’s Center and local Westchester elementary schools, Professors Sturm, Santacrose, and Pizzano hope to offer more workshops for parents focusing on topics like managing difficult behaviors (hitting!), implementing rules and routines at home, and using positive feedback and rewards effectively. Stay tuned!
