Information for community members about positive childhood experiences (PCEs)

Every person in a child’s community has the power to create positive experiences that will help them grow, succeed, and live a happy and healthy life. Learn how you can gain the knowledge and skills to support children and families and promote positive childhood experiences.

About positive childhood experiences (PCEs)

Positive childhood experiences (PCEs) drive healthy development and mitigate the long-term effects of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Research shows that PCES: 

• Promote children’s long-term health and wellbeing 
• Enable children to form strong relationships and meaningful connections 
• Cultivate positive self-image and self-worth 
• Provide a sense of belonging 
• Build skills to cope with stress in healthy ways 

Main categories of PCEs

Research has shown that Positive Childhood Experiences (PCEs) help children grow into healthy, resilient adults. The Tufts HOPE Center categorizes PCEs into four building blocks that are the foundation of healthy child development: 

1. Relationships within the family and with other children and adults through interpersonal activities. Being in nurturing, supportive relationships are critical for children to develop into healthy, resilient adults. Individuals that recall having these types of relationships during childhood experience significantly lower rates of depression and poor mental health during adulthood. 
2. Safe, equitable, stable environments for living, playing, and learning at home and in school. Children who live, learn, and play in safe, stable, and equitable environments are less likely to experience poor mental and physical health as adults.  
3. Social and civic engagement to develop a sense of belonging and connectedness. Children need to feel loved, appreciated, and connected to their communities. Involvement in social institutions and environments, awareness of cultural customs and traditions, and a sense that they matter and belong helps them develop into secure and resilient adults. 
4. Opportunities for social and emotional growth. Children need to have opportunities to develop their sense of self-awareness and social cognition, learn how to self-regulate emotions and behavior, and gain skills needed to navigate challenges and build resilience. Many of these skills arise during child-centered play. Some children will pick up these skills naturally, but others may need adults to help them name and understand their own feelings. Either way, these skills are critical for children to be able to become resilient, emotionally healthy adults. 

For healthcare providers

How you can promote PCEs for children as a healthcare provider: 

• Promote access to supportive relationships 

  • Ask parents and caregivers about the types of positive relationships they may recall from childhood and encourage them to think about which parts of those relationships they want to offer their children 
  • Share information about parent-child attachment. Validate and reflect when you see warm reactions between parent and child.  
  • Ask about other positive adults in the child’s life including coaches, teachers, pastors, or mentors 

• Promote access to safe, stable, equitable environments 

  • Ask about habitability of homes. Consider a partnership with a local legal aid clinic to draft a template letter for remediations that families can offer to their property owners if rentals are not meeting health codes.  
  • Provide information on local subsidized preschools, Early Head Start, and Head Start programs 
  • Ask about guns in the home. Have a conversation about gun safety and ask about guns in friends’ homes.  

• Promote access to social and civic engagement 

  • Ask about activities families enjoy with their children outside of school and work 
  • Share flyers or links to resources for community centers, after-school activities, and mentoring programs in your community 

• Support social and emotional growth 

  • Help a child name their feelings as they arise and talk about what that feeling feels like in the child’s body 
  • Proactively normalize disagreements in peer groups and share information about how to disagree respectively and productively 
  • Encourage social connection like you would encourage eating healthy foods or exercising 

For home visitors

How you can promote PCEs for children as a home visitor: 

• Promote access to supportive relationships 

  • Ask caregivers about the types of positive relationships they may recall from childhood. Celebrate those with them! Encourage them to think about which parts of those relationships they want to offer to their children.  
  • Share information about parent-child attachment. Validate and reflect when you see warm reactions between parent and child. Model appropriate interactions. 
  • Ask about other supportive adults in the child’s life and encourage regular and consistent connection with these individuals 

• Promote access to safe, stable, and equitable environments 

  • Conduct a habitability screening in the home. Consider a partnership with a local legal aid clinic to draft a template letter for remediations that families can offer to their property owners if rentals are not meeting health codes.  
  • Conduct a safety screening. Ask about children’s access to guns, medications, alcohol, and drugs in the home as well as and other safety issues. Create a plan with the family to address any identified risks. 
  • Provide information on local subsidized preschools, Early Head Start, and Head Start programs  
  • Share community resources and services with the family to help meet their basic needs 

• Promote access to social and civic engagement 

  • Have a conversation about what families enjoy doing outside of school and work and how they can involve their children  
  • Share information with families about community centers, after school activities, and mentoring programs 
  • Encourage families to volunteer together in their community  

• Support social and emotional growth 

  • Help children name their feelings as they arise, and talk about what those emotions feel like in the child’s body  
  • Normalize disagreements in peer groups and model or role play about how to disagree respectively and productively 
  • Encourage social connection like you would encourage eating healthy foods or exercising 

For educators and school support staff

How you can promote PCEs for children as an educator or school support staff: 

• Promote access to supportive relationships 

  • Take the time to connect with children in your school community, especially those you know or suspect might not have many adults who believe in them  
  • Share information with the child about after school activities where they might connect with coaches, mentors, or peers  
  • Connect children who could use more supportive relationships with the school guidance counselor  

• Promote access to safe, stable, and equitable environments 

  • Make your school environment a safe space for all students. Address bullying and teasing in the moment and encourage your class to be stand up for their classmates. 
  • Diversify materials in your school to make sure that children feel represented. Look at the books on the shelf, posters on the wall, and examples in your curriculum and see if families of all genders, races, and abilities are represented.  
  • If your school doesn’t already provide supplemental food to students on the weekends and over breaks to students who receive free lunches, talk to your administration to see if they can start a program 
  • Share community resources with students and their families. There may be more students than you think who come to school hungry, without secure housing, or are exposed to violence in the home —be the person who notices and connects them with support.  

• Promote access to social and civic engagement 

  • Ask students what they enjoy doing outside of school and consider having students create projects about their favorite social activity to share them with the class 
  • Have flyers throughout the school for community centers, after school activities, and mentoring programs  
  • Encourage your students to volunteer in community service programs 
  • Consider offering your own after school opportunity to engage students 

• Support social and emotional growth 

  • Help a student name their feelings as they arise and talk about how they feel 
  • Normalize disagreements in peer groups and share information about how to disagree respectively and productively 
  • Consider implementing a social and emotional learning (SEL) curriculum in the classroom 

For friends, relatives, or community members

• Promote access to supportive relationships 

  • Take the time to connect, play, and engage with the children around you 
  • Share information with children about after school activities where they might connect with coaches, mentors, or peers  
  • Connect children who could use more supportive relationships with the school guidance counselor  
  • Ask parents about the positive experiences and relationships they remember from childhood. Celebrate those with them and encourage them to think about what aspects of those experiences they would want to share with their children. 
  • Ask parents about other positive adults in the child’s life including coaches, teachers, pastors, or mentors. Celebrate those relationships and encourage consistent connection with those individuals.  

• Promote access to safe, stable, and equitable environments 

  • Make sure schools are safe spaces for all students —address bullying and teasing, and encourage children to stand up for themselves and each other.  
  • Listen to and engage with children when they talk about school and how they’re treated by their peers and teachers.  
  • Help children find safe places to play outside and interact with their friends and community. 
  • Share community resources with students and their families. There may be more students than you think who come to school hungry, without secure housing, or are exposed to violence in the home —be the person who notices and connects them with support.  

• Promote access to social and civic engagement 

  • Have a conversation about what families enjoy doing outside of school and work and how they can involve their children 
  • Share information with families about community centers, after school activities, and mentoring programs  
  • Encourage families to volunteer together in their community 

• Support social and emotional growth 

  • Help your child identify and express their emotions in healthy ways. Encourage them to talk about their feelings and teach them coping skills to manage strong emotions. 
  • Children learn by watching the people around them. Model positive behaviors, such as empathy, kindness, and cooperation. 
  • Normalize disagreements among peer groups and teach children how to disagree respectively and productively 
  • Encourage children to take on responsibilities and make decisions for themselves. 
  • Encourage children to interact with others and participate in activities that involve group play, such as team sports, group classes, or clubs. This helps build social skills, teamwork, and a sense of belonging. 

Positive childhood experience trainings

HOPE Trainings

• Request a HOPE Training 
  The HOPE (Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences) National Resource Center offers in-person and virtual workshops to teach participants about positive childhood experiences and how to translate HOPE into practice. These interactive, skill-building workshops are tailored to a variety of audiences, including home visitors, substance use providers, K-12 educators, pediatricians, and more. Learn more about their full list of trainings and workshops and request a HOPE training.

HOPE Online Courses  

• Enroll in Spreading HOPE Course
  The Spreading HOPE Online Learning Course is a self-paced program that presents background information on the health effects of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and the research showing how positive childhood experiences (PCEs) prevent and mitigate the effects of ACEs and toxic stress resulting in improved health outcomes. Participants learn about the 4 Building Blocks of HOPE and participate in skill building exercises that enable them to begin to incorporate the HOPE framework into their work.  

Additional resources 

• Tufts Medical Center HOPE Resource Library
  The Tufts HOPE Center promotes how communities and systems of care can better ensure that all children have more positive experiences and that all families have support to nurture and celebrate their strengths. Find resources for families and community members to learn about positive childhood experiences.  

  • 10 Ways to Promote PCEs 
  • The Four Building Blocks of HOPE for Medical Providers 
  • The Four Building Blocks of HOPE for Home Visitors 
  • The Four Building Blocks of HOPE for Educators   
• Resources & services related to positive childhood experiences (PCEs)
  Learn about support groups, resources, and services for your children and family.
• Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL)
  Learn about the fundamentals of social and emotional learning that can help children and youth thrive personally and academically, develop and maintain positive relationships, and become lifelong learners.  

• The National Center for Pyramid Model Innovations
  Find resources available in multiple languages for strategies on partnering with families to support their child’s behavioral, social, and emotional health, skill development, and wellbeing.