b'MARCH 2021Early childhood education programs unite parents remotelyParenting a small child is challenging enough. Doing it in a pandemic, in the middle of a lockdown, made it tougher for new and veteran parents alike. Enter Abriendo Puertas, a popular curriculum that teaches parents how to support their childrens growth and education, ages 0-5. Puente has offered the Spanish-language training to local parents since 2015, but had to rethink the curriculum presentation to accomodate families lifestyles over Zoom. Puente offered the Spanish-language It was an immensely important undertaking. The COVID-19training, Abriendo Puertas/Opening pandemic left parents highly stressed. Studies have shownDoors online to 10 families. parental levels of stress and anxiety have grown 50%Puente ofreci la capacitacin en espaol, Abriendo Puertasen lnea compared to levels before the pandemic, as have symptomsa 10 familias.of depression. All that despair can trickle down to children, and can permanently affect their brain development and emotional health, according to experts.We wanted to give families language and tools for how to 24name and cope with the long isolation they were experiencing, says Lizeth Hernandez, Puentes unduplicatedEducation Director. We were making sure parents parents/guardians andwere aware of the developmental stages and how to 17support families where they were: at home.children attended early childhood education programs through Puente.20'