Parent Support  (top)

The Brain Seeks to Control Stress

Brain researchers believe that a newborn's brain creates neurons at a rate of over a quarter of a million per minute. The young brain grows and absorbs information without evaluating, filtering or giving priority to the information. The brain receives each event with the same import as every other experience.

 Parent-Child Communication Helps Verbal Skills

Often you will hear professionals say "Talk, talk, talk to your child!" if you want them to develop the ability to understand language and to talk. This also helps your child develop the literacy skills necessary for learning to read and write.

Parents, child care providers should develop relationship

One of the best business investments child care providers can make is to develop a relationship with the parents of the children in their care. Open and honest communication between providers and parents results in positive experiences for parents, providers and, most importantly, children.

Physical Well Being  (top)

Children's Media Exposure Linked to Ill Effects

A systematic review of 30 years worth of research on media's effects on children found strong connections between media exposure and problems of childhood obesity, tobacco use and sexual behavior. Researchers from the National Institutes of Health and Yale University say about 80 percent of the 173 research efforts they looked at showed a link between a negative health outcome (childhood obesity; tobacco use; drug use; alcohol use; low academic achievement; sexual behavior; attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity) and time spent with media or media content. Eighty-six percent of the studies that looked at obesity showed a negative outcome linked to media exposure.

 USDA Unveils Food Pyramid for Preschoolers

The United States Department of Agriculture has launched a web-based food pyramid for parents of preschoolers that provides nutritional guidelines and menu guidance for children ages 2 to 5. An interactive feature enables parents to enter a child's gender, age and activity level to get a customized food plan that promotes healthy eating.

Preventing the Flu in 2008-2009

Strategies and Resources for Child Care Providers and Out-of-Home Caregivers of Children

Quality Education And Care  (top)

A Guide for Families Using NAEYC Standards to Find Quality Programs for Young Children

The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), a leader in the early education field, explains to parents what quality centers should look like, according to its standards. The new standards and criteria are based on the latest research on the development and education of young children. The standards define what NAEYC—the world’s largest organization of early childhood professionals—believes all early childhood programs should be.

 Recess a component of social development

The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) describes unstructured physical play as a developmentally appropriate outlet for reducing stress in children. This period of time allows children the opportunity to make choices, plan, and expand their creativity. "It is important for children to have that break (from the classroom) where they can play and socialize," said Renee Swain, who's been an elementary school teacher for 35 years at John Mills School in Elmwood Park.

 Great Start honors community involvement

CORUNNA — Parents and community leaders gathered Monday to celebrate efforts to improve early childhood experiences, highlight current challenges in the county and launch plans for the year ahead.

Preschoolers need a healthy balance of play, learning

A half-century ago, the term "preschool" was virtually unknown. Some children attended "nursery school," where the emphasis generally was on socialization, but there was little educational structure beyond learning the alphabet and counting.