Crime-Fighting Teachers

Many years ago, when I taught Kindergarten, I saw a cartoon that depicted picketers in front of the capitol complaining “No More Money for Schools” and “Build More Prisons”.  As sad as it was, it seemed to so well express legislative priorities. 

Research shows the correlation between high-quality early education and quality of life issues, such as high school graduation and jail time.  The group Fight Crime: Invest in Kids studies crime prevention strategies, works to make the public and policymakers aware of the findings, and urges investment in research-proven programs.  They identify themselves as a group of  “nearly 5,000 police chiefs, sheriffs, prosecutors, attorneys general and other law enforcement leaders and violence survivors”. 

The United States currently has about 2 million criminals incarcerated at the cost of about $75 billion per year.  A study in Chicago showed that children enrolled in high-quality child care or parent coaching programs were 20 percent less likely to be arrested for a felony or be incarcerated as young adults than their peers.  This doesn’t include the benefits like increased high school graduation rates, better health, or less receipt of welfare.  Recent research demonstrates that society profits, financially, by $25,000 per child served in a high-quality early education program when you deduct the cost of the program from the lifetime savings. 

Of course, those of us who provide care realize that the money is nothing compared to the positive impact on the lives of these children. So...to all of you who provide high-quality child care....well done, thank you, and keep up the good work! It truly does make a difference.

Misty

Playground Question

A couple of weeks ago, I posted about the importance of outdoor play.  This week, I’d like to change it up a little and specifically ask for your input. 

We may be opening another Center, this one in southern California.  Since this is new construction, we can design it from the ground up (depending upon our client’s budget, anyway).  I’ve been reading a lot about natural playgrounds and am very intrigued.  They look like they could be endlessly fascinating for children and very aesthetically pleasing. 

I am very concerned about how our local Licensing agency would accept such a playground; there are inherent risks involved with providing logs and stones for children to walk across.  The natural playgrounds representative that I spoke with assured me that Licensing cannot, legally, require any greater safety measures than the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the American Society for Testing and Materials require.  But, realistically, anyone in child care knows that, if a Licensing representative doesn’t like the way I’m doing something, they will find some way to make my life more difficult. 

My questions for you are:

• What sort of playground do you have?
• What are the positives and negatives of your playground?
• What would you change about your playground if you could?
• Do you or anyone you know have a natural playground?
• If so, how what are the positives and negatives of that playground?
• How does the Licensing agency view the playground?
• From what you know, would you build a natural playground for your program if you could?

Thanks in advance for the help!  (If we get a dialogue started on this blog, pop me an email with a subject you would like to discuss and we can throw that out to the group as well.)

Misty

Partnering with Pediatricians

Getting to know local pediatricians (and/or the pediatrician’s staff) and leaving information about your program in their offices can be a good way of marketing your program.  You can reciprocate by providing a resource area in your program for parents, including materials provided by the local pediatricians and other professionals.  (Remember, make sure it’s just a referral and not a recommendation.)

A recently released policy statement on Literacy Promotion from the American Academy of Pediatrics provides another opportunity for partnership.  The policy statement explains to pediatricians why early literacy development is so important and how to counsel parents on best supporting this development.  Pediatricians are encouraged to :

• Inform parents about the importance of reading out loud to their children from the time they are born
• Counsel parents about developmentally appropriate shared-reading activities (like dialogic reading)
• Provide developmentally appropriate books for high-risk, low-income young children
• Provide resources for parents about literacy—informative posters and handouts, library information, etc.
• Partner with other child advocates (like you)

While pediatricians can be a great literacy resource for parents, they are medical professionals, not education professionals.  As an early education professional, you can be a resource to the local pediatricians to expand their knowledge on early literacy and to answer any questions they or their clients may have regarding best practices in early learning.  Perhaps you could provide recommendations on which books they could offer to children of various ages, donate some inexpensive books or bookmarks, or provide parent handouts with early literacy suggestions.  Just make sure your contact information is on everything you provide!

Misty

Learning Outdoors

I was fortunate as a child to be able to play outside a lot, especially during the Summer.  By early afternoon, the neighborhood would be full of children running around and we knew that our primary requirement was to go home when the streetlights came on.  Most of the children in our care don’t have this luxury.  They are with us all day rather than running around their respective neighborhoods.  Consequently, it’s up to us to make sure that they can get appropriate outdoor time during the day.

An important aspect of providing outdoor play is to understand why it’s necessary.  Once we (including our staff members) have a solid understanding of what children learn through outside play, scheduling outside play and planning appropriate learning experiences becomes easier.  So, what do children learn through outdoor play and how can we enhance that?

• Physical Development—Gross motor skills are simply learned best where there is adequate room to move.  This will generally be outside.  Gross motor skills are only learned through practice.  Children who learn to move confidently are more likely to live active lives, which will help to combat the national epidemic of obesity. 
• Cognitive Development—When outdoors, children have abundant opportunities to use their senses to observe the environment.  There is growing thought that movement helps the brain to optimize its performance.  Additionally, gross motor activities can provide a very effective way of improving vocabulary.  Children are much more likely to remember what the words trot or gracefully mean if they can move their bodies in those ways. 
• Social/Emotional Development—Physical play requires paying attention to where your body is in space and how it is impacting others around you.  Children learn cooperation by taking turns or agreeing to the rules of the game they are playing.  Just having the opportunity to be outside or to move around freely can be a great stress-reducer for children (and for adults). 

Make sure that your daily schedule allows ample time for outside play both structured play and free play.  The children will be learning in both situations. 

Misty 

Child Care Illness Exclusion Policy

I recently read an interesting article from the National Institutes of Health regarding exclusion of children from child care due to illness.  Researchers found that children who are excluded due to illness frequently end up in an emergency room or urgent care center rather than with their regular pediatrician.  Parents often need a doctor’s note to either get their child accepted back into care or to get approval for time off from work.  When they are trying to get this note quickly, they often feel the need to seek emergency care rather than waiting for a visit with the pediatrician.  Lead researcher Dr. Andrew Hashikawa explains that, while this may not be a medical emergency, it becomes a “socioeconomic emergency".  Because of this perceived emergency, parents who need a note were four times more likely than other parents to seek emergency care for their children.

While child care providers must have illness exclusion policies to protect the health of both children and staff, making sure that the policies are well-informed can provide some relief to parents.  Many child care policies are based on “how we’ve always done it” rather than on actual medical recommendations and are, therefore, more exclusionary than necessary.  Part of the problem is that, although the American Academy of Pediatrics publishes exclusion guidelines, child care providers must meet local child care licensing requirements, which may be in opposition to the guidelines of best practices. 

What we can do to help our families while keeping children and staff healthy is to follow the licensing requirements while understanding what illnesses do not actually require exclusion.  This knowledge will also help us to explain our policies to parents so that they can partner with us to keep everyone healthy.  If you don’t already have an Illness Exclusion Policy, check ours out at www.DayCareTools.com.

Misty

P.S.  Congratulations to our friend Vera on the Grand Opening of her new Center.  Best wishes!!  Glad we could help you out a little.

International Mud Day 2014

International Mud Day.  I’m not sure many people realize it exists.  But it does and it sounds like fun.  It's a day to celebrate nature and the outdoors.  I spent my childhood puddle jumping, tree climbing, and playing in mud.  It seems like a lot of children today do not have that opportunity.  

I must admit, as I looked through suggestions for mud day, I was concerned about the dangers associated with some of the ideas.  Some of the mud puddles that I saw looked deep enough to be drowning hazards and, of course, mud is dirty.  But, with appropriate care and supervision, mud activities can be safe and fun.

Here are some possibilities for celebrating International Mud Day on June 29th (and perhaps all week).

• Make muddy footprints.  Put a large piece of paper on the ground, get mud on the feet of plastic animals and ‘walk’ them across the paper, leaving a trail of footprints.
• Make mud bricks in ice cube trays or muffin tins.  Bake in a 250 oven for about 15 minutes to dry the bricks (if you don’t want to wait for them to air dry).  Use additional mud or plaster of paris as mortar to build with the bricks.
• Create mud sculptures.  Add sticks, leaves, rocks, etc.
• Paint with mud.  Paintbrushes or fingers on canvas, cardboard, wood, or the side of your building or fence.
• Build a mud puddle for some free play (make sure it’s not too deep and that children are well supervised).  

If, like me, your local soil is clay, bring in a few bags of topsoil to make the mud.  If a full-on mud puddle is too much, you can do your mud play in a dishpan.

Have a hose ready for rinse-off, some clean clothes ready for the little adventurers, and enjoy your muddy day!

Misty

Staffing Your Child Care Program

With child care staffing comprising as much as 70-80% of a program’s budget, controlling staffing costs is critical.  We’ve been doing a lot of budget work lately with multiple scenarios and it’s amazing how much a slight pay difference or 15 minutes here or there can make.  It can be the difference between continuing a program and closing the doors. 

Since 15 minute-blocks can make a big difference, we have to make sure that we are not overstaffing our program.  At the same time, though, we have to be absolutely sure that we are not understaffing either.  Understaffing can decimate a program as quickly as a negative budget will.  Understaffing, in addition to violating licensing regulations, leaves children at risk, reduces the quality of the program, and stresses out the staff. 

Our balancing act is making sure that we have correct staffing at all times, not overstaffed, but not understaffed.  This sounds easy….to someone who has never done it.  But children, even those with regular schedules, don’t always arrive and depart at the same time.  Then there are staff schedules to work around; some have family responsibilities that limit the hours they can work, some are taking classes, etc.  These schedules can change with the season, the semester, or simply changes in their own lives.  Dealing with all of these contingencies can present quite a challenge.

To be able to design a schedule that maximizes the staffing budget, a program manager must know how many children are in attendance at any given time, on any given day, in any given room, and how many staff members are working with them.  Our tool for capturing this information is an “Hourly Ratio Tracking Sheet” (although it actually tracks every half hour).  Every 30 minutes, a staff member in each classroom notes how many children are in attendance and how many staff are on duty in the room.  For ease of reference, the sheet notes the ratio for the classroom.  It also highlights those times that we may need to be overstaffed; lunch, snack time, diaper change time, etc.  Our program manager then looks over these forms and highlights areas in which we are overstaffed.  (Hopefully there is never an area in which we are understaffed.)  If patterns of overstaffing are found (every Wednesday from 7:00 to 8:00, for example), the staff schedule is modified to use our staff and money more effectively. 

If you don’t already have a ratio tracking sheet, check ours out here.

Misty