Friday, May 30, 2008
Do you know a “picky eater”? “Picky” eating is when a child (or adult) refuses foods often or eats the same foods over and over. Picky eating usually peaks in the toddler and preschool years.
Many parents worry that their picky eater is not getting enough nutrition to grow. But in most cases, he is. Keep a food diary for a day—writing down everything your child eats—and you will probably find that he is eating more than you thought. If you are worried or have questions about your child’s growth or nutrition, it is a good idea to talk to your child’s health care provider. Keep in mind, however, that as long as your child is not losing weight and has the energy to play and interact, it is likely that he is eating enough to support his growth.
For those of you who have picky eaters, here is a great article and resources on how to deal with the picky eater. From our friends at Zero To Three, this article covers many of the questions about picky eaters and even has an additional resource: a one-page handout that explains how you can help your child develop healthy eating habits from the start.
Read the article and share your successes and failures with picky eaters...
Thursday, May 29, 2008
I often get asked about how to go about choosing a child care facility. It's scary to think of the impact that child care can have on young children in the first five years of their lives. So I think that there needs to be great care and consideration in choosing care for your child.
1. Plan ahead, and do research.
As soon as you become pregnant, begin looking for child care. Spots for infants are often full. And, by looking early, you'll have time to find the provider that fits your needs. Start your search by talking to other parents who use child care, or by calling your local Child Care Resource & Referral Agency of providers in your area. For a first visit with a provider, call for an appointment. Once you've narrowed your options, make a couple of drop-in visits and watch how adults and children interact. Good interaction includes staff reading to children and encouraging children to try new skills. Finding toddlers in playpens or bouncing seats would be a sign that they aren't getting enough stimulation. You also want to hear staff talking to children in calm, warm tones. If you bring your child, realize that any nervousness he or she exhibits may simply be from being in an unfamiliar place and does not necessarily reflect how well the child would do there long-term. At the end of your visit, ask for references.
2. Be Aware that Costs vary.
Each licensed home or facility sets its own prices. One business may charge considerably more because it offer more services, has more staff, or because it has more overhead, equipment and lease costs. Though not always the case, sometimes cheapest isn'w always the best... sometimes you get what you pay for.
3. Consider language and culture.
Most parents look for facilities that reflect their language and culture. Finding the right cultural atmosphere will require more investigative work on the parents' part. They should talk to providers about their views on religion, discipline and lifestyle. Some cultures, for example, consider it rude if a child looks an adult in the eye. Parents of that culture would find it hard for their child to be in an environment where caregivers urge a child to do so.
4. Look for A Licensed Facility
Businesses licensed by the state must post their license from the state Department of Health & Human Services. Child-care facilities must also post staff CPR-, first-aid-, and HIV-training documentation. They also must post an emergency escape-route floor plan, along with 911 and emergency numbers for poison control and Child Protective Services.
5. Be open-minded about business types.
You may think you want only a home environment, or only a large-facility environment, but try to put aside preconceived notions and visit several of both types. People often think that their children won't get much personal attention in a large facility, but in many cases they get just as much. And people often think their child will be in a situation more like home in an in-home facility, but keep in mind that a family-home provider may have up to 12 children under her care. Each child-care facility is unique in its offering; it is vital that parents research their choice.
Most important is to find a caregiver that you can connect with and can trust. This is a huge responsibility and you want to be able to communicate freely about your child.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
A growing body of economic research suggests that public investment in early childhood programs may be able to lower public costs for social services by improving children's long-term welfare, according to a new RAND Corporation report.
Such research could promote a reorientation of child and human services toward investment and prevention, moving away from the current system that seeks to “treat” problems that develop later in life, according to the report.
But economic analysis of early childhood programs does not necessarily result in clear direction about what is the single best approach to any problem, according to researchers. Instead, economic research is more likely to highlight a spectrum of promising services and provide guidance about how to choose an optimal level of each program.
The RAND report is intended to provide policymakers with a primer about how economic analysis can help set agendas for early childhood policy and identify the economic benefits of targeting certain groups for help.
“Economic analysis increasingly plays a role in the debate on the merits of early childhood programs, but many people are unprepared to participate in the discussion,” said Rebecca Kilburn, the report's lead author and an economist at RAND, a nonprofit research organization. “The report is intended to provide clarity and structure for making use of such research.”
Interest in using economics to help analyze early childhood policies has grown as business CEOs, Federal Reserve Bank analysts, and Nobel Prize-winning economists have called for increased public spending on early childhood programs.
Two overarching concepts from economic research have become important in discussions of early childhood policy — human capital theory and monetary “payoffs” from investments in early childhood programs.
Human capital theory is an economic model that provides a framework that brings together current thinking about early childhood policy, including the concept that later skills build on skills developed earlier in life. The theory accounts for such concepts as nature and nurture, and the idea that capabilities involve multiple dimensions.
Probably the most widely recognized intersection between economics and early childhood policy is in the analysis of the costs and benefits of early childhood programs such as home visiting and preschool. Such analysis typically compares the costs and benefits of early childhood programs to determine the “rate of return” the public will receive for money spent on such efforts.
A growing body of program evaluations shows that investments in early childhood programs can generate government savings by, for example, reducing the need to provide social services later in life or by improving individuals' earnings, which then generates more tax revenue.
Kilburn and co-author Lynn Karoly write that an increasing body of knowledge has demonstrated how poorly U.S. children fare compared to their counterparts in other developed countries. Research has shown that U.S. babies increasingly are born with low birth weights, elementary-age children are overweight and asthmatic at growing rates, and more than 700,000 children spend time in foster care each year.
In addition, research from the fields of neuroscience, developmental psychology and program evaluation has shown how early experiences help determine how a person's brain develops and that effective early intervention strategies can improve a wide range of outcomes from childhood through early adulthood.
While many studies have found that the cost of early childhood programs can produce long-term benefits that offset their costs, not every early childhood program does so, according to the RAND report.
In addition, researchers caution that evidence suggests that the returns from early childhood programs may decline under certain conditions. While monetary benefits can remain positive for universal programs, the rate of return may be higher when programs are targeted toward the groups likely to benefit from them the most, according to the report.
There also is recognition that the benefits from early childhood interventions may be tied to the quality of those interventions, but higher quality often costs more. Unless funding grows, researchers say, shifting toward higher quality may mean that fewer children can be served.
The study, “The Economics of Early Childhood Policy: What the Dismal Science Has to Say About Investing in Children,” is available at www.rand.org.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
I hope that everyone had a great Memorial Day holiday. In spite of a little rain on Saturday, we spent a great deal of the weekend outdoors... Of course, we do have a graduation coming up in a couple weeks and need to get some "chores" done. But even if that wasn't the case, we would have spent much of our time outside. The same is true with my child care. We enjoy being outdoors. The children and I go out every day (weather permitting) all year long. And this time of year, we spend most of our days outdoors
The following article concerns me in that it appears that many children don't get enough outside play. Yes I can empathize with those caregivers who have parents that do not bring children dressed appropriately for play, but I think that is an issue to be addressed with the parents, not an excuse to stay indoors.The Flip-Flop Factor: Why Day Care Kids Don’t Play Outside
What’s keeping your child inside?Outdoor play at day care centers is often stifled because a child arrives wearing flip-flops or without a coat or because teachers don’t feel like going outside.
Those were some of the surprising findings from a new study of children’s physical activity in day care settings. More than half of American children between the ages of 3 and 6 are in child care centers or preschools.
Researchers at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center held focus groups with staff members at 34 area child care centers to learn more about how kids spend their time in day care and the reasons they may or may not spend time outside.
Many of their answers were unexpected. Day care workers keep children inside if they show up in flip-flops rather than sneakers or if they don’t have a coat on a chilly day. Sometimes, the entire class is kept indoors if one child doesn’t have appropriate clothes for outdoor play. One problem is that parents who don’t want their child going outside on a given day will intentionally keep the child’s coat so he or she will be kept indoors.
Read the entire article and share your opinions... What about it? Do you do outdoors?
Friday, May 23, 2008
In Meaningful Investments In Pre-k, researchers from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research estimate what it actually costs to provide quality pre-k programs. To estimate the costs of quality pre-k programs, the IWPR researchers identified the characteristics of high-quality pre-k programs—qualified teachers, small class sizes, appropriate educational materials, and so on—and arrived at research-based estimates of what it actually costs, on a per-child basis, to provide those things. They also estimated the cost of appropriate facilities and of state-level support and oversight infrastructure needed to ensure pre-k quality.
The researchers estimated the cost of pre-k at a variety of quality levels, varying quality in terms of both teacher qualifications/compensation and class size. They also estimated the difference in costs of half-, full-, and extended-day programs. Estimates ranged from a low of $3,214 dollars per child, per year for half-day pre-k programs taught by teachers with a CDA (a child development credential that is less than an associate’s degree) in classrooms of 20 students, to a high of $13,649 per child, per year for extended-day pre-k programs, taught by bachelor’s degree teachers paid under public school salaries, in classrooms of 15 students.
The sad reality is that most states are spending nowhere near this much money per pupil on pre-k, even compared to more modest quality standards. Pre-K programs in 10 states are spending less than even the $3,214 per child IWPR estimates is necessary to provide just the lowest-quality pre-k! The National Institute for Early Education Research estimates that only 19 states are spending enough money to meet quality standards, and all but 4 of those provide only half-day programs.
Fortunately for policymakers seeking to raise quality, the IWPR study also provides estimates of the marginal cost to improve state pre-k quality standards. For instance, for a full-day program with associates degreed teachers and classes of 17 students, it would cost about 12 percent more to raise teacher education requirements to a bachelor’s degree, while it would cost about 8 percent more to reduce class size to 15. These estimates can be useful for policymakers weighing the costs of different policy alternatives.
What the IWPR study doesn’t provide, however, is information on cost effectiveness of different quality improvements: That is, if I’m a legislator seeking to improve pre-k quality or access in my state, what investments give me the biggest bang for my buck? Should I invest marginal dollars in class size reduction, or on raising teacher credentials, or should I leave quality be and increase the number of children served?
Download the study and form your own opinions.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
The New York Times reports that PBS is bringing back The Electric Company, a beloved 1970s-era children's television show that uses SNL-style sketches to help children develop literacy skills. The Electric Company was produced by Children's Television Workshop (since renamed Sesame Workshop, which will be producing the new show), the same organization that produces Sesame Street. Refitted for the age of hip-hop and informed by decades of further educational research on reading, the 2009 version of “The Electric Company” is a weekly, more danceable version of its former daily self. The series, which is expected to make its debut in January, faces challenges the original never did (trying to stand out amid so much children’s programming and to shake the stigma of educational television) as well as familiar ones (trying to make reading a positive experience for youngsters).
“It’s the old one mixed with ‘High School Musical’ and a Dr Pepper commercial,” said Linda Simensky, senior director of programming for PBS Kids, a block of children’s shows that will include “The Electricity Company.” There’s a touch of “Fame” to it, given its cast of
culturally diverse city kids who sing and dance, as well as nods to the original series.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
What Does Economics Tell Us About Early Childhood Policy?
An increasing chorus of Fortune 500 CEOs, Federal Reserve Bank analysts, Nobel Prize-winning economists, and other business and economic leaders have led the call to increase public “investments” in early childhood. This call is driven by research findings that increasingly emphasize the importance of laying a strong foundation in early childhood and that show that a range of early interventions can successfully put children on the path toward positive development, preventing poor outcomes in adulthood. These findings — along with increasing recognition in the public-health and social-service sectors that providing program services in early childhood has benefits over treatment later in life — have contributed to the evolution of economists' support for early childhood investments.
To help decisionmakers in the public and private sectors, service providers, and the public more generally, RAND researchers drew on their decades-long expertise in applying economics to early childhood issues to demonstrate how two economic concepts — human capital theory and monetary payoffs — contribute to a unifying framework that provides evidence-based guidance for early childhood policy. These concepts are summarized in this research brief.
Perhaps the most widely recognized intersection between economics and early childhood policy is the analysis of the costs and benefits of early childhood programs and related analyses that describe the rate of return on investments in early childhood programs.
The fundamental insight of economics is manifested in a growing body of program evaluations that shows that early childhood programs can generate government savings that more than repay their costs and produce returns to society that outpace most public and private investments.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
From Child Care Works:
The 2008 Legislature has finally come to a close, finishing on Sunday night, with the passage of a budget bill, a bonding bill, and several other provisions. Here is a brief synopsis of items related to child care and early education.
The supplemental budget bill includes:
A State Advisory Council on Early Education and Care will be created. Under the federal Improving Head Start for School Readiness Act of 2007, state governors are required to create such a council. The adopted language recognizes this process, and adds to the council's duties and membership. In addition to representatives from state departments overseeing early childhood programs, and from Head Start, school districts and local ECE providers, the legislation adds four legislators and two parents with children under the age of six. Parental involvement in the Council is paid for by transferring $12,500 from the Pre-K Allowances and $12,500 from the administrative costs of the Child Care Development Fund, unless other funds become available.
The State reimburses school districts for a portion of the actual cost of health and development screening for three to five year olds, as required by law. The law change increases these reimbursements from $30 to $40 for 5 year olds, from $40 to $50 for 4 year olds and recognizing the importance of screening earlier, $50 to $75 for 3 year olds. This is a marked improvement and will help identify children who need assistance in getting ready for school earlier.
The bill includes these cuts to early care and education:
-$9.227 million cut from Basic Sliding Fee child care. Normally these unspent funds are reallocated to the counties with child care waiting lists (There are 3,700 families on the waiting list statewide). Additionally, some changes were made to the formula by which basic sliding fee funds are allocated to counties to more accurately reflect the actual need in counties. These changes will help prevent situations such as the state faced this year, with regard to unspent funds.
-$250,000 will be cut from the Pre-K Allowances pilot project. This is a small victory because earlier in the session, one budget bill had proposed that Pre-K allowances be cut $2 million but advocacy efforts by a number of early childhood organizations and action by Senator Dick Cohen, chair of the Finance Committee, made the cut much smaller.
-1.8%, or $110,000, will be cut from Child Care Development Grants, which affects a small amount of dollars for Pre-K Allowances, the FFN grants, quality improvements, and child care resource and referral services.
The bill does not include: Bonding for the early childhood facilities grant was not included in the bonding bill. The grant program is for facility construction and rehabilitation, for use by Head Start, early childhood family education, early childhood intervention, and crisis nurseries programs. The facilities grant was line-item vetoed in the first bonding bill, and was not included in the final negotiations despite the efforts of R4K, advocates, and strong leadership from so me legislators.
Facing a $935 million/$1 billion deficit, CCW knew that the 2008 legislative session was going to be difficult and cuts were likely to be made. However, we know that without your efforts to advocate for early care these cuts would have been much worse. Thank you for all that you did on behalf of children and early care this session.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Here is a free resource that you will want to check out... Thinkfinity. Thinkfinity delivers free, top-quality online educational resources. They include thousands of lesson plans, activities, educational games and more.
Thinkfinity.org is the cornerstone of Verizon Foundation's literacy, education and technology initiatives. Our goal is to improve student achievement in traditional classroom settings and beyond by providing high-quality content and extensive professional development training.
This free, comprehensive digital learning platform is built upon the merger of two acclaimed programs Verizon MarcoPolo and the Thinkfinity Literacy Network.
Thinkfinity.org makes it easy for educators to enhance their classroom instruction with lesson plans, interactive activities and other online resources. Thinkfinity.org also provides a wealth of educational and literacy resources for students, parents and after-school programs.
All of Thinkfinity.org's 55,000 standards-based K-12 lesson plans, student materials, interactive tools and reference materials are reviewed by the nation's leading education organizations to ensure that content is accurate, up-to-date, unbiased and appropriate for students.
At Thinkfinity.org, you'll find primary source materials, interactive student resources and grade-specific research lists to help you tailor materials to meet your needs. Start exploring now!
Friday, May 16, 2008
It is important yet always a challenge to get children to wash their hands properly. Here is a resource that may be of help... The Scrub Club for Kids.
Each year, more than 164 million school days are lost due to illness, which could be greatly reduced with proper handwashing. That’s why NSF International created the Scrub Club™ – to raise awareness about the benefits of handwashing and ultimately improve the health of children and reduce school sick days. The Partnership for Food Safety Education (PFSE) has partnered with NSF on this groundbreaking initiative.
Scrub Club™ to the RescueThe Scrub Club™ program is the first of its kind – a fun, interactive and educational Web site (www.scrubclub.org) that teaches children the proper way to wash their hands. The site consists of a Webisode interactive games, educational music, downloadable activities for kids, educational materials for teachers and program information for parents.
The Scrub Club™ is a group of seven kids and Ship-Shape – the mysterious but lovable leader who watches over the hands of the world’s children from his Bubble telescope – that join forces to fight off harmful germs and bacteria, teaching children the proper handwashing process along the way. Each of the Scrub Club™ kids represents one of the six steps of the handwashing process.
There is plenty of fun for children and information, activities, music, and downloads for parents and educators. Check out the website.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Pro Pre-School Editorial...
An editorial in the Press Republican of New York talks about the financial benefits of preschool...
EDITORIAL: Pre-school now critical
By Robert Barron
School districts that don't provide a robust pre-kindergarten program are costing their students and even their taxpayers dearly. Yet not all do.An article Dec. 6 in New York Teacher, the publication of the New York State United Teachers union, cites research studies that say low-income students who had access to pre-K:
- Were less likely to wind up in expensive special-education programs later.
- Eventually earned more money.
- Were more likely to own their own homes as adults.
- Were less likely to receive public assistance.
- Were less likely to be arrested and jailed.
To advocates of less school spending, those compelling findings still may not win the day. But this one might: A preschool program near Detroit cost $17,599 per child but led to savings and increased tax revenue totaling $184,086 per child. So the benefits are not only educational and social, but financial.
In years past, preschool programs provided by a school district were regarded as luxuries exclusive to wealthy districts. That is no longer true. Imagine children of low-income parents, very likely with less education than would be expected among wealthier neighbors, being sent to kindergarten to fend for themselves in competition with students getting coached at home. The competition is unfair and unavailing for the poorer students, a situation an effective pre-K could help address.
Pre-K can even out some of the disparities of birth and upbringing. The programs don't come without some sacrifice, particularly in rural areas. For example, many families -- especially those with single parents or both parents working -- have difficulty lining up care for half days. Transportation can be another headache. If students are to be bused, costs are increased. State funding is available for districts with pre-K programs, though it sometimes isn't enough. And, if the funding is not renewed permanently, the districts would be facing more thorny choices down the road.
Identifying which districts in our region have pre-K and which don't is not easy, as the information isn't available from a single source. Nevertheless, in 2006-07, of 220,000 4-year-olds in New York state, 72,000 attended preschool, and the forecast is that that figure will increase to 117,000 this year.
Pre-K is a proven enhancement to a child's present and future and appears to be well worth the investment. Intelligence is not enough to ensure a child's success.
Environment is equally important. If the educational environment at home is not favorable, pre-K is crucial.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Read the following article in the Twin Cities Daily Planet...
Opening The Door To Early Learning
It’s hard to disagree that it’s a good thing to have children ready to learn when they start kindergarten. The question is how to get all children ready, when economic factors, types of child care and early childhood learning opportunities vary so greatly.Researchers, including Art Rolnick, senior vice president and director of research at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, see positive results from early childhood education. But it wasn’t until bank staff crunched the numbers that anyone had looked at this as an economic investment. By Rolnick’s calculations, the return would be equivalent to 16 percent annually on a $22,000 investment.
More focus on early childhood learning by establishing an Office of Early Learning might just help boost the bottom line, supporters say. The office would gather employees of the Health and Human Services departments who oversee day care programs and Department of Education employees who deal with programs like Head Start.
Rep. Sandra Peterson (DFL-New Hope) sponsors HF2983, which would create the office and appoint a director to coordinate childhood systems between the two organizations.
The House bill is tabled because Peterson did not want it added to the omnibus K-12 education bill with the state facing a projected $935 million biennial deficit based off the February Economic Forecast. A companion, SF3153, sponsored by Sen. Tarryl Clark (DFL-St. Cloud), awaits action by the Senate Education Committee.
However, Peterson successfully added an amendment to the omnibus education policy bill (HF2475), which would add six members to the Early Childhood Family Education Advisory Council.
The council, established under the federal Improving Head Start for School Readiness Act of 2007, is charged with studying early childhood education in the state. New members would equally represent the House, Senate and parents. Council duties would be expanded, under the bill, to include recommending efficient and effective ways to leverage state and federal money for early childhood programs; recommend ways to coordinate these programs through an Office of Early Learning; and recommend to the governor and Legislature how to most effectively create a high quality early childhood system so that all children are school-ready by 2020.
The program’s $25,000 cost would be equally split between federal child care and development funds and pre-kindergarten exploratory project administrative funds.
These programs were once consolidated in the Department of Children, Families and Learning. During the 2003 budget cuts, strictly educational programs became part of the
re-constituted Department of Education, and the rest of the programs became part of the Department of Human Services. A new office, Peterson said, would be more like the current Office of Higher Education.For the last few years, Rep. Nora Slawik (DFL-Maplewood) has carried a bill to create a similar council.
“The first thing was to get that and then to do the office,” she said. With a DFL-controlled House, the idea has more chance of success this year, she said.
Rep. Lynn Wardlow (R-Eagan), who co-chairs the bipartisan Early Childhood Caucus with Peterson, would not like to see added bureaucracy, but supports the office because the state is under-investing in early childhood education.
However, others in his caucus do not favor adding the office, including Rep. Sondra Erickson (R-Princeton), lead Republican on the House E-12 Education Committee.
“I think we have to be careful of growing government if it’s not necessary,” she said. Plus, she believes the office could have the effect of separating the Department of Education from early childhood programs.
Karen Carlson, early learning services director for the Department of Education, has worked under both systems. The departments work together now, but she said it was easier to get things done when both were under one roof.
Both departments have the goal of creating well-prepared youth, but they have different interests in attaining that objective.
“Child care is a private business and they have worries and concerns that school teachers don’t have to worry about,” Carlson said. There are early childhood indicators of progress, which are guidelines that align with the K-12 standards. “I think the goal of this office is to get all the kids sort of at the same level of standards and attention given them.”
Chuck Johnson, assistant commissioner for children and family services at DHS, said the department does not have an official position, but is concerned about the way the office would be structured.
What are your thoughts? Would a separate government entity in charge of early childhood care be beneficial?
Monday, May 12, 2008
Here is a great resource that you will want to download and keep about children's safety and emergency planning. If you are a licensed child care provider, you are already required to do some of the actions recommended in this workbook. Some specific licensing requirements are listed in the "Emergency planning resources" section.
Keeping Kids Safe: Your Home Child Care Emergency Plan will help you be ready to respond to such emergencies while you’re caring for other people’s children AND to keep your own family safe–since your child care home is also your family’s living space. By planning ahead with this 10-step process, you can feel better prepared to keep yourself and the children safe. Friday, May 09, 2008
(Tongue-in-cheek, but with a grain of truth):
My Mother taught me about ANTICIPATION:
"Just wait until your father gets home."
My Mother taught me about RECEIVING:.
"You are going to get it when we get home!"
My Mother taught me to MEET A CHALLENGE:
"What were you thinking? Answer me when I talk to you...Don't talk back to me!"
My Mother taught me LOGIC:
"Because I said so, that's why."
&
"If you fall out of that swing and break your neck, you're not going to the store with me."
My Mother taught me MEDICAL SCIENCE:
"If you don't stop crossing your eyes, they are going to freeze that way."
My Mother taught me to THINK AHEAD:
"If you don't pass your spelling test, you'll never get a good job."
My Mother taught me ESP:
"Put your sweater on; don't you think I know when you're cold?"
My Mother taught me HUMOR:
"When that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don't come running to me."
My Mother taught me how to BECOME AN ADULT:
"If you don't eat your vegetables, you'll never grow up."
My Mother taught me about SEX:
"How do you think you got here?"
My Mother taught me about GENETICS:
"You're just like your father."
My Mother taught me about my ROOTS:
"Do you think you were born in a barn?"
My Mother taught me about WISDOM OF AGE:
"When you get to be my age, you will understand."
My Mother taught me about JUSTICE:
"One day you'll have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you. Then you'll see what it's like."
My mother taught me RELIGION:
"You better pray that will come out of the carpet."
My mother taught me about TIME TRAVEL:
"If you don't straighten up, I'm going to knock you into the middle of next week!"
My mother taught me FORESIGHT:
"Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you're in an accident."
My mother taught me IRONY:
"Keep crying and I'll *give* you something to cry about."
My mother taught me about the science of OSMOSIS:
"Shut your mouth and eat your supper!"
My mother taught me about CONTORTIONISM:
"Will you *look* at the dirt on the back of your neck!"
My mother taught me about STAMINA:
"You'll sit there until all that spinach is finished."
My mother taught me about WEATHER:
"It looks as if a tornado swept through your room."
My mother taught me how to solve PHYSICS PROBLEMS:
"If I yelled because I saw a meteor coming toward you, would you listen then?"
My mother taught me about HYPOCRISY:
"If I've told you once, I've told you a million times: Don't Exaggerate!!!"
My mother taught me THE CIRCLE OF LIFE:
"I brought you into this world, and I can take you out."
My mother taught me about BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION:
"Stop acting like your father!"
My mother taught me about ENVY:
"There are millions of less fortunate children in this world who don't have wonderful parents like you do!"
Here's to all the mothers... Hope you have a wonderful Mother's Day!
Thursday, May 08, 2008
I know that I have talked about these programs in the past, but I can't emphasize enough that child care providers in Minnesota should be taking advantage of these economic opportunities...
Grant dollars available. Child Care Resource & Referral agencies throughout the state award grant dollars to child care providers. These dollars include start-up grants, emergency grants and grants for training and supplies.
[http://www.mnchildcare.org/providers/capacity.php]
R.E.E.T.A.I.N. (Retaining Early Educators Through Attaining Incentives Now) Grant Program invests in Minnesota child care providers by awarding personal incentive grants.
[http://www.mnchildcare.org/providers/capacity.php]
T.E.A.C.H.® (Teacher Education and Compensation Helps) Early Childhood Minnesota is an early educators scholarship program intended to help child care professionals earn degrees in their field.
[http://www.mnchildcare.org/TEACH/index.php]
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Today's resource comes from Canada and is specifically geared for the guys. It is the Father Involvement Initiative.
The Father Involvement Initiative goes back to 1997 when Health Canada commissioned a literature review aimed at developing an action plan to promote Father Involvement in Ontario. It had become clear at that time that fatherlessness presented a challenge in relation to healthy child development and resiliency. With this first report entitled Father Involvement: a Supportive Condition to Healthy Child Development, Health Canada developed a working partnership with the Peterborough Family Resource Centre in order to begin the process of implementing some of the recommendations that came from the report.
Go to the Resources Section and you will find some great resources at this site including posters, downloadble booklets, and more. I recommend taking a look at the booklets, they are very well done. There is even a section of articles about father involvement.
And as long as we're looking at resources for fathers, don't forget to download the Father Toolkit from My Daddy Matters... lots of good information in there.
How about sharing any great resources for guys that you know of?
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Monday, May 05, 2008
Children's Book Week is May 12th through 18th, 2008. This is a time to celebrate children's book and promote reading with all the children in your care.
In a small library on a November afternoon in 1921, a stiff-lipped lady was busy with her scissors, shearing off the bottom third of Jessie Willcox Smith's poster for Children's Book Week. A poster showing books scattered in joyous abandon on the floor was more than she could bear to display! Our attitude toward children and their enjoyment of books has undergone considerable change since that day. The creation and growth of Children's Book Week has both resulted from and influenced this transformation. Since 1919, Children's Book Week has been celebrated nationally in schools, libraries, bookstores, clubs, private homes-any place where there are children and books. Educators, librarians, booksellers, and families have celebrated children's books and the love of reading with storytelling, parties, author and illustrator appearances, and other book related events.
It all began with the idea that children's books can change lives. In 1913, Franklin K. Matthiews, the librarian of the Boy Scouts of America, began touring the country to promote higher standards in children's books. He proposed creating a Children's Book Week, which would be supported by all interested groups: publishers, booksellers, and librarians.
Mathiews enlisted two important allies: Frederic G. Melcher, the visionary editor of Publishers Weekly (the publishing industry trade journal), and Anne Carroll Moore, the Superintendent of Children's Works at the New York Public Library and a major figure in the library world. With the help of Melcher and Moore, in 1916 the American Booksellers Association and the American Library Association cooperated with the Boy Scouts in sponsoring a Good Book Week.
At the 1919 ABA convention, the Association committed to the organization of an annual Children's Book Week. A few months later, the official approval of the American Library Association was also secured during its first Children's Librarians session.
In 1944, the newly-established Children's Book Council assumed responsibility for administering Children's Book Week. The CBC has developed materials and promoted and encouraged local celebrations of Book Week ever since. In addition, the CBC serves as a year-round promotion and information center about children's books and children's book publishing.
The need for Children's Book Week today is as essential as it was in 1919, and the task remains the realization of Frederic Melcher's fundamental declaration: "A great nation is a reading nation."
Check the Children's Book Week website. Get your official poster, find out 25 ways to celebrate Children's Book Week. There are also lots of puzzles, story starters, and more.
Friday, May 02, 2008
Here's another online resource for you to bookmark...
CLASP (Center for Law And Social Policy) is a great online resource for early childhood educators. CLASP's child care and early education work is dedicated to promoting policies that support both child development and the needs of low-income working parents. CLASP conducts policy analysis, research, and technical assistance to expand access to and resources for high-quality, comprehensive child care and early education; build effective child care and early education systems including child care subsidies, Head Start, pre-kindergarten and other early education initiatives; and ensure these systems can be responsive to the developmental needs of all children, in particular infants and toddlers and children in immigrant families. CLASP's child care and early education work highlights state-by-state data where available.
This site is one of the best sources of data and publications about early childhood issues on the web. Check it out... I think you be amazed at the amount and quality of inforamtion available.
Thursday, May 01, 2008
900 families waiting for child care assistance need your help!
Legislators from the House and Senate continue to meet in conference committee to negotiate a budget bill, including the Senate's proposal to cut $9 million in unspent child care assistance ("basic sliding fee") by reallocating it to the state's general fund instead of to Minnesota counties where families are on waiting lists for child care assistance.
Your voice can make a difference for these children and families right now! Please make two quick phone calls a.s.a.p. this week urging conference committee leaders to support working families by using that $9 million dollars as it was intended - to help families access affordable child care! Take action.
On the policy side (non-funding issues, including the Child Care Assistance Barriers Task Force and stronger SIDS language), the Department of Human Services "technical bill," SF 3170 (Torres Ray), has passed the Senate and its companion bill, HF 3376 (Walker), is nearing final passage. The bills have some differences, so a conference committee to work them out will be appointed following the bill's passage in the House. We will track this closely and keep you up to date.
Our child care bill tracking chart has more information on specific child care bills, and the status of other early childhood bills this session, check out Ready 4K's legislative center (click on "Up to Date Bill Tracker" link).
