Monday, April 07, 2008
Week of the Young Child...
Well, I'm back. Hope that you missed me a little. The past week has been extremely hectic around the Wachter household. The weekend before last we were at the Minnesota Boys State Basketball Tournament. My son played well over the tournament and his team won the championship! It was an exciting weekend and I would like to thank everyone who sent congratulations to us.
This past week, I was committed to 6 workshop trainings. I am just now catching my breath and getting ready for another training tonight. Hopefully things will start to settle down now and begin returning to normal...
I just wanted to make sure that everyone was aware that next week, April 13th through 19th, is the Week of the Young Child. This is a great opportunity to focus public attention on the needs of young children in your area and recognize the early childhood teachers and programs that teach and care for young children.
Did you know...
Working families need child care and supportive employer policies to be able to meet the needs of their young children throughout the day.
The theme of 2008's Week of the Young Child is "Bring Communities Together for Children—Children Bring Communities Together" For more information about what you can do to celebrate, go to http://naeyc.org/about/woyc/.
Well, I'm back. Hope that you missed me a little. The past week has been extremely hectic around the Wachter household. The weekend before last we were at the Minnesota Boys State Basketball Tournament. My son played well over the tournament and his team won the championship! It was an exciting weekend and I would like to thank everyone who sent congratulations to us.
This past week, I was committed to 6 workshop trainings. I am just now catching my breath and getting ready for another training tonight. Hopefully things will start to settle down now and begin returning to normal...
I just wanted to make sure that everyone was aware that next week, April 13th through 19th, is the Week of the Young Child. This is a great opportunity to focus public attention on the needs of young children in your area and recognize the early childhood teachers and programs that teach and care for young children.
Did you know...
Working families need child care and supportive employer policies to be able to meet the needs of their young children throughout the day.
- In the United States the majority of mothers with children under age 18 work, including 59% of those with infants and 74% of those with school-aged children.
- Approximately 13 million infants, toddlers, and preschool children are regularly in non-parental care in the United States, including 45% of children younger than one year.
- The Census Bureau reports that approximately 50% of working families rely on child care providers to help them care for their children while they work; 25% rely on relatives for child care; and nearly 25% arrange work schedules so that no child care is needed (e.g. parents work different hours or days; one parent works during school hours and is home after school).
- Research shows that high-quality early childhood programs help children--especially those from families with low-incomes--develop the skills they need to succeed in school.
- However, most programs in the United States are rated mediocre, and fewer than 10% meet national accreditation standards. Across the nation child care fees average $4,000 to $10,000 per year, exceeding the cost of public universities in most states. Yet, nationally only 1 in 7 children who are financially eligible for child care subsidies is being served, and only 41% of 3 and 4 year old children living in poverty are enrolled in preschool, compared to 58% of those whose families have higher incomes.
- Communities are becoming increasingly diverse and in order for early childhood educators to be effective they must be sensitive and responsive to children's cultural and linguistic backgrounds. If current population trends continue, by the year 2010 55% of America's children will be white, 22% will be Hispanic, 16% will be black, and 6% will be Asian or Pacific Islander.
The theme of 2008's Week of the Young Child is "Bring Communities Together for Children—Children Bring Communities Together" For more information about what you can do to celebrate, go to http://naeyc.org/about/woyc/.
// posted by Tammy Wachter @ 4:37 PM 
